Lux
by UNrequitedAmbitions
Summary: James and his cousin, Lux, who becomes part of MWPP and good friends with Lily. Told from Lux's perspective. Starts in year one. Remus/OC Sirius/OC and J/L
1. Of Quidditch Gods and New Beginnings

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Harry Potter:/

**A/N:**Sort of my first story. I had another one but I didn't like it so I deleted it and then didn't do anything for a long time. But I've worked pretty hard on this and I'm pretty happy with it. I have a good idea where the plot will go; it's going to be more like a Lux/Remus Lux/Sirius. So enjoy!

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**Chapter One:**

**Quidditch Gods and Beginnings **

I felt like an impatient five-year-old asking but I couldn't help it. The words were out of my mouth before I could stop the childish impulse.

"Are we there yet?"

I mentally cringed as I heard my brother snicker in the back seat. My mom understood. "Only a little further dear, just be calm. We'll get there." I saw her dimple dip in as she held back the urge to smile. I sighed and slumped back into my seat, resuming my previous occupation of watching the traffic sluggishly tug along.

It was strange to think that most of the world would go about normally today. That nobody had a clue of the great things I was about to learn. Of the whole other world that existed just outside their grasp. Like sand through your hands, they'd never catch it; though they may at some time come close even then they will never know.

The traffic couldn't capture my attention so I leaned my head back, looked at the dull grey ceiling of the car. Nope. I closed my eyes and tried to think of anything but Hogwarts. Nope. I looked over at my mom and caught an expression of suppressed sadness in her furrowed brow. Yup. This would work as a distraction, though it was a depressing one. I hadn't thought about how leaving for school this year would affect my mother, I had been too caught up in the euphoria of finally being of age. Both of her children would be gone this year. She would be all alone in our huge house with nothing but objects left behind to remind her of us. I frowned and reached my hand out, resting it gently on top of hers. She turned her head of long black hair toward me and looked at me with her sad green eyes, a small smile on her lips. Was she trying to fool me with the smile? Like I didn't know her well enough to see the sadness etched around that smile, in the crease in her brows, in the lines around her eyes? I knew her face, it was so similar to mine we could be sisters. Or twins if she was younger.

I shook my head at her and let her sense that I was onto her depression. We had always been very "connected." Telepathic you might call it. I figured it all came with the magic thing when I was younger but now I realize that it's rare. I haven't found another I can connect to like I can with her.

She tried to tell me she was fine, that it's normal for mothers to feel this way when there children go off for schooling. I wondered how long I had been ignoring this sadness issuing from her; it was so glaringly obvious now. It must have been obscured by my own joy. How selfish.

"I'll write you every week," I told her, "Give you every detail of my every day. My boring classes and inevitably boring assignments." That got a quirk of a smile, a light in her eyes.

"I hate it when you guys do that, you know that." My brother, Casimir was saying from the back. I twisted in my seat to look back at him, sulking with his arms crossed around his chest and his eyes narrowed at me, "And I don't like how you get to sit in front. I'm the oldest."

"First of all you know our connection is just second nature to us, we can't help it." I said, shrugging and turning my body to the front again.

"And second of all," mom continued, looking at Casimir in the rear view mirror, "Lux is my favorite child. You must know this by now?"

I burst out laughing and so did mom. Casimir attempted to continue pouting but our laughter was contagious and he finally gave in. After we calmed down Casimir scooted forward until he was right up in between mom and I.

"So have you changed all your robes to silver and green yet?" Casimir was saying, "I saw the Slytherin headmaster has been owling mom twice a week to bribe you into his house." He had resumed his on-going taunt from the beginning of the summer that I was so perfect for Slytherin that they're begging for me. It was getting old.

"Sing a different song Casimir," I said, "Just because you have no friends in Gryffindor doesn't mean I won't." I smirked as he snarled at me.

"With that kind of tongue you could be in Slytherin," mom said as she smiled again. At least she was cheering up a bit. "And all of those owls would be from Aunt Helen, she wants to keep in touch since James and Lux are both starting their first year this year."

"Cousin James starts this year too?" Casimir asked.

"Yes, so you won't have to look after Lux as much as I originally wanted you to. She'll have James; they can learn the ropes together." She said, smiling happily at the thought of me becoming closer with my family. She knew I didn't like James. I glared at her and I knew she sensed my anger but was ignoring it.

"I don't understand why you dislike him so much," Casimir had caught the expression on my face.

"He always has to be the center of attention. And he thinks he's the greatest Quidditch player to ever grace the earth." I rolled my eyes as flashes of James forcing me to watch all the new tricks he'd learned since the last time we'd seen each other flicked through my brain. I cringed; if he got on the team he'd probably make me wear a shirt with his face on it and carry around a banner that said 'James Potter is the Quidditch God.'

This image must have been passed to my mother because she burst out laughing and gave me a sympathetic look. "Yeah, the kid does have quite the ego."

"There you guys go again. I feel so left out." Casimir says and I try to throw the mental image his way. It takes awhile, as it always does when I try it on Casimir, but I eventually get it through to him.

"How clear was it?" I ask.

"Just a little fuzzy," he says chuckling slightly.

"I'm getting better," I say, smiling at my achievement, "Maybe James will let me try on him some too, make him useful for something." Casimir rolls his eyes and my mom just shakes her head, smiling faintly. "I feel like we've been driving for an eternity, we have to be just about there." I say and feel slightly more dignified in my asking than before.

"Actually, we are here." Mom says, and her gloomy aura fogs her over again. I frown at her as we pull into the parking lot.

"There's a good spot there!" Casimir nearly shouts as he jumps forward, hitting his head on the ceiling, pointing to a spot we were already headed for.

"Yeah, I think she saw it." I say as she parks and I unbuckle myself. Casimir immediately flings himself from the car and goes to search for a trolley, mostly to hide his embarrassment. I shake my head and laugh as I watch his retreating figure and go to open the back end of the car. Mom comes around the other side and helps me tug out my trunk. By the time we've got it all the way out Casimir is back with a trolley and he helps us unload from the car and then reload onto the trolley.

"Casimir don't forget Ursula, and Lux, Calla is still in the back too," mom says, heaving a deep sigh and I frown at her for a second before I open the back door to get out the owl my mom bought me for school. She was a beautiful creamy white, the tips of her wings contrasting with a deep black. I named her Calla; it means beauty which fits her perfectly. I smiled lovingly at her as I carefully lifted her cage out of the back seat and sat it on the trolley. I stick my fingers through the metal bars and stroke her beak as she hoots softly in contentment. "So sorry you had to sit in the back with my git of a brother," I whisper to her and she hoots again.

"What a beautiful owl!" I hear the all too familiar voice of James Potter from behind me. I close my eyes and take a deep breath before turning to face him.

"Is it new?" He asks, taking a great step forward and reaching through the cage to touch her soft feathers.

"Yes, mum bought it for me so we could keep in touch," I answer.

"Well if it isn't little Cousin James!" Casimir comes up from behind James and claps him on the back.

"Hey Casimir, how's it going?" James smiles up at him, though I notice he doesn't have to look up too far anymore. Casimir was tall to me. He was only a year older and almost a foot taller, but now I see them side by side, James is only a few inches shorter than Casimir.

"I'm great, you excited?" Casimir asks.

"You bet I am! Gryffindor here I come!" James pounds his fist into the air triumphantly and gets this goofy, cocky grin. I roll my eyes and look to mom. I can tell she wants to get going so I start pushing our trolley through the crowds of people and everyone else follows my lead.

"Where are you parents James?" mom asks, looking around expectantly for Helen and Al, as if her mentioning them will cause them to materialize.

"Oh, well they were called into the Ministry early this morning so they just dropped me off here real quick," he says, trying to pull off nonchalance, "They told me to find you, said you'd be happy to help me board the train and stuff. Not like it's all that difficult anyway." He rolls his eyes at the last part.

I didn't have to look at my mother to know how she felt about this. I could feel her mixture of anger and pity rolling off her and soaking into me.

Anger because she couldn't understand how a parent couldn't see their child off to their first year of school. Or any year for that matter; they wouldn't be seeing each other for several months.

Pity because she likes James, despite his ego and other faults, and this wasn't the first time his parents have been too busy for him.

I could feel her internal struggle at wanting to say something to him but she held it in. I shook my head; despite my dislike for James I felt the same as mom on this one, his parents should have been here.

We were at the concealed entrance now, saving any of us from commenting on James' parents as we each take our turn disappearing behind it and entering the magical world beyond. We must be running late; hardly anyone is still on the platform.

"We'd better hurry," I say, frowning, "We probably won't be able to find a compartment all together."

"What makes you think I'm going to sit with you little sis?" Casimir says but, after catching the look on our mothers face says, "Of course I'm sitting with you, you wonderful picture of perfection," in a sickly sweet voice.

I pretend to gag and James and mom laugh. Mom then hugs us all in turn and kisses James on the head, then the cheek. I hug her once more as Casimir steps onto the train and she yells after him, "Don't you dare leave your sister behind!" I laugh and hurry after him, dragging my trunk, with some difficulty, behind me.

I follow James and Casimir down the narrow corridor until they pause, looking into the window of a compartment. They turn to look at each other, shrug and slide the compartment door open. I struggle in behind them and see that there is a girl already in there. She's very pretty with long dark red hair that reaches her waist, and when she turns to look at us her eyes are the first things I notice about her face. They're a dazzlingly bright green and perfectly almond shaped.

"Do you mind?" Casimir asks her as we all crowd in the doorway.

"Not at all." She answers, gesturing to the empty seats around her. After carelessly stowing our luggage in the overhead compartment we all take our seats. Casimir sits next to the girl and I take the window seat just opposite her. James sits beside me after complaining that he wanted the window seat.

We all sit in silence for a few moments until I break it. "How rude of us," I say to the girl and she looks confused until I continue, "We haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Lux, and these two," I point toward the two boys, "Are James and Casimir and I'm sad to say that I am related to them _both_."

She laughs and James and Casimir pretend to be offended. After her giggles subside she says, "I'm Lily."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Lily," I say and she says the same back. I'm willing to bet that she is in my year, especially since she was sitting alone and this fact makes me happy; maybe I'll make friends with this girl and be able to ditch James.

"So Lux? That's a pretty unique name, huh? And Casimir, never heard of that either." Lily says after a few minutes.

"Well our mother likes odd names I suppose," I say, "Lux means light in Latin and I think Casimir means strength or chaos."

"Oh, so James was the least favorite? Just an ordinary run-of-the-mill name for him?" Lily asks, smiling as James blushes slightly.

"James isn't our brother," Casimir says, trying to keep from laughing at James' red face, "He's our cousin."

"Oh," she says, comprehension showing on her face. After James forces Casimir into a conversation to make up for his strange moment of embarrassment Lily leans toward me and whispers, "Does he always embarrass that easy? For future reference, I don't want to, like, insult his name or something and embarrass him in front of a bunch of people."

It's really hard to contain my laughter because Lily is so sincere about it. If only she knew how funny this circumstance was, if only she knew James. In all the years I had known James, technically all my life, I had never seen him get that embarrassed before. Ever. Though I did have a theory to why this girl was able to crack that thick skull of his. Maybe it was that natural "intuition" that girls come with or maybe it was my gift to connect with people on such a high emotional level, either way I just knew that James had a crush on this girl. Just like that. It was weird but not unheard of, a kind of "love at first sight" scenario.

I tell Lily not to worry about it, that he's probably just on edge about getting to school. Probably having doubts about his actual potential to get into Gryffindor. I smirk inwardly at that because I know James has absolutely no doubt in his entire construction of thought that he'll get into the house of his family. Gryffindor is simply in his blood.

After I have Lily completely reassured we lean back and talk in normal voices again and I ask, "So what house do you think you'll get into?"

"Well," she says, looking a little uncomfortable, "I don't really know much about it."

"You mean like both your parents were in different houses and you're not sure which one, if either, you'll be put in?" Asks Casimir, joining in our conversation.

She hesitates, almost like she wants to say yes, but then heaves a great sigh and says, "No, I mean my parents were never in a "house." Never in this school actually."

I think I get it now but before I can say anything James interjects with, "Like they were home schooled?"

Lily's looking real desperate now, like she just wants us to understand and get it over with so I say tentatively, "No, I think that Lily means her parents aren't magical."

James and Casimir draw a collective "Ooh" and identical looks of understanding cross their features.

"It's no problem," James says, "Just stick with us, we'll help you out."

"Yeah," Casimir nods in agreement and says, "Want to hear about the different houses?"

"Yeah I do!" Lily says and her already bright eyes seem to glow in her excitement.

"Okay, first of all there's Slytherin, they're the worst," James says, making a disgusted face.

I roll my eyes and say, "Slytherin is for people that are really cunning and will do anything to save their own skins and, well, it's a big stereotype that the majority of dark wizards come from Slytherin house."

"It's not just a stereotype Lux!" James says indignantly.

"Well, whatever. Then there's Ravenclaw, which is for those that are very intelligent, Hufflepuff for people that don't belong anyplace else really and-"

James interrupts with a triumphant shout of, "Gryffindor! For those bravest and most courageous!"

"Which house sounds like it'd fit you best," I ask Lily, ignoring James' outburst of pride for a house he isn't even officially a part of yet.

She thinks for a few seconds and then says, "Well, Ravenclaw would be nice obviously," and then, as she thinks on it more she adds, "But I'm sure I'm not smart enough, I mean I didn't know anything about magic until a few months ago!"

"I'm sure you'll be brilliant!" James blurts out and we all turn to stare at him red in the face again.

"Well I do agree with James," Casimir says, mercifully drawing the attention away from him, "It has nothing to do with your blood status like that new Death Eater group is trying to tell everyone."

"Blood status?" asks Lily, looking confused.

"Yeah, you see, there's always been a prejudice among wizards, dating back to Salazar Slytherin, who was one of the four founders of Hogwarts," I say, deciding to get into the whole description so Lily has a little background history, "There was Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. Our four houses are, obviously, named after the four original founders and we're sorted according to what each of them found most important in a witch or wizard. They were all friends and everything went really great for a while; with their combined teaching skills and knowledge they made Hogwarts, one of the most desired schools for young witches and wizards. Until Salazar decided he wanted the school to be more exclusive. He only wanted what we call "purebloods", or people with an all magical ancestry, to be allowed into the school. He thought that muggleborns, people born to two non-magical parents, weren't worthy of their education and since he couldn't persuade the others to see things his way he left. Sadly the prejudice still exists to this day and people have even come up with the term 'mudblood' or 'dirty blood' to insult people with non-magical heritage and Slytherin house very rarely accepts them." Casimir and James have disgusted looks on their face, though they've heard the story several times before; being in the presence of a muggleborn probably gave the story more of an impact.

Lily just looked worried. "I probably will be horrible…" she says, looking at her hands clasped in her lap, apparently enveloped in her own thoughts, "I know nothing about magic. I just learned there was this whole other world a few months ago. I had no one to sit on this train with; my parents just helped me board the train, barely paying attention they were so wrapped up in the extraordinary things they were seeing. Things they would have never been meant to see if it wasn't for me. My sister's right, I'm nothing but a freak!" She lifts her voice as she lifts her head to look at us all and I see her eyes are filled with unshed tears. She looks like she wants to shrink until she disappears into nothing.

Casimir, James and I looked at each other for a heart beat and Casimir, being the closest to Lily, put his arm around her and patted her shoulder awkwardly. I would have laughed under different circumstances, instead I say, "Lily, don't think on it for a minute. Everybody starts off knowing nothing. Even purebloods! All we know is some simple history of magic, nothing more. We're too young to do any real magic and we'll all grow to learn that together, no matter what our blood status. There have been so many famous muggleborn witches and wizards that it's just pure ignorance to think that magical ability has anything to do with the kind of blood that runs through you." I'm getting worked up now, as anyone who opposes the pureblood superiority would.

Lily nods slowly and hesitantly at me as she lets what I say sink in until she finally gives me a watery smile and says, "You guys probably think I'm completely off my rocker now, right?" And gives a small chuckle.

"Not at all!" James bursts out, "I completely understand! I sure hope you're in Gryffindor; I can help you learn the ropes real easy. I can teach you how to play Quidditch also; I'm very good for my age." He puffs out his chest arrogantly and obviously doesn't consider the fact that Lily has no idea what Quidditch is.

"Here we go." I mouth to Lily and smile sympathetically at her as James trades spots with Casimir and begins to give her an in-depth full-detailed history of Quidditch once he realizes she knows nothing of the sport, though he doesn't mind, he'll take any chance he gets to talk about Quidditch.

Within a few minutes she's looking like she's only a moment away from either falling asleep from boredom or slapping James for his naked arrogance. I knew it was only a matter of time before she saw his true arrogant nature as soon as he plummeted into his "I am God of Quidditch" babble. I catch her eye and mouth 'Just fake sleep.' She holds back a giggle and nods her head. Lily yawns widely and stretches and begins blinking sleepily as James continues, unnoticing. She slowly makes her progression and starts closing her eyes longer and longer each blink. Finally she leans her swaying head against the window and closes her eyes. It takes James a full three minutes and twenty seconds; yes I counted, to finally notice that his audience has fallen asleep on him.

He turns to us and says, "All that talk about purebloods must have really worn her out."

I hold back a smirk and nod my head, trying to look serious. I can see Casimir rolling his eyes out of my peripheral vision. James just takes another glance at Lily, shrugs his shoulders, and leans back in his seat, stretching out his legs and placing his hands behind his head.

"So you're starting your second year, right Casimir?" James asks.

"Sure am, and I'm going to try out for the Quidditch team this year." His voice sounds a little smug. I know that he's excited about the prospect of getting on the team because my window faces our backyard and I saw him sneak out frequently in the middle of the night to practice. I feign surprise.

"Really? I didn't even know you were that into Quidditch. What position do you want?" I ask him.

"Well I think I'm going to go out for Beater, it's my strongest position." He can't keep the smile off his face and neither can I. I'm proud of him, though I'll probably never admit it to anybody. He's shown a real dedication for this, unlike his school work, but at least this shows he has ambition, even if it's not for academics.

"When I try out it will definitely be for Seeker," says James, with a reminiscent look on his face, probably remembering all of his personal greatest moments.

The compartment door slides open then, bringing James back to reality and we all turn to see who's coming in, I even see Lily taking a peek.

A tall and very slender boy with black, greasy hair reaching his shoulders stands in the doorway. His pitch black eyes dart around the compartment, coming to rest on each of us individually as if he was sizing us up. He had a proud air about him which was a deep contrast to the way he dressed. Second-hand robes that were much too big and slipping off your shoulders are not what a proud, self-respectable wizard wears. I wonder what his deal is.

After what feels like several minutes James finally speaks up. "Can we help you?" He asks him, looking a little perplexed but still trying to sound polite.

"Yes. May I sit with you? It seems all the other compartments I've come to are full and I've been walking around the train for nearly half and hour."

"Of course you can sit with us." I say and scoot over so he can take the window seat. His long robes sweep across the compartment as he gracefully sits himself beside me.

Everyone is awkwardly quiet for a few moments until I can't stand it any longer. I turn to the pale boy sitting next to me, looking slightly uncomfortable with the whole situation he was in and say, "What did you say your name was?"

"I didn't." He replies shortly and I recoil slightly from his tone, "But it's Severus. Severus Snape."

"Oh, well I'm Lux Carwin," I say, though he doesn't ask, "And that's Casimir," I point across the room at him and he nods in recognition, "He's my brother, he's starting his second year. This is James," I jerk my thumb behind me in James' direction, "He's my cousin and that's Lily, we just met her. The three of us are all starting our first year, are you too?" I ask politely, trying to make conversation so he wouldn't feel so awkward.

"Yes, I am." I feel like he's searching for more to say but can't think of anything, neither can I. "What's wrong with that girl? It looks like she's been crying." He finally says, sounding just a little rude as he points at Lily who is still in deep fake sleep.

"Lily? Oh well she's just a little upset. You see, she didn't really know anything about magic before this summer and she's afraid she won't be any good." I tell him, grasping to the subject, just for something to talk about. I hope Lily doesn't mind that I'm telling him this, but she doesn't break from her sleeping routine.

"What do you mean she didn't know about magic?" He asks, somewhat suspiciously.

"Well…" I say, hesitating a little, "She was muggleborn-"

Before I could say anything else Severus leaps to his feet and says, "You mean she's a _mudblood!_?" And looks down at her with contempt.

"How dare you!?" Shouts James, also jumping up. He looks rather frightening, his blue eyes bright with anger and his hair seeming to stand on end with electricity. I had never seen him like this before. I didn't know he had such a temper.

"How dare I? How dare you! How could you stand being around her? She's nothing but filth trying to corrupt the world's pure magical blood!" His pale face was flushed a bit and his black eyes seemed to turn to liquid. He was definitely as equally as frightening as James, something I couldn't have imagined from the small boy, with his too-big robes and un-washed hair. I'm thoroughly intimidated by them both until I notice something I almost laugh at; they had both drawn their wands. I have to cover my mouth with my hands. What were they going to do, send a few sparks at each other? I doubted either of them knew enough magic to do any harm with a wand. Maybe they could have a good poking duel.

"I think you need to leave." James says, distracting me from my thoughts.

"Fine," Severus spits out and after he's extracted his luggage from up above he trudges across the room and, just before he leaves, he turns to look at James and says, "I'd rather pitch a tent on top of the train than sit with a mudblood." Then he sweeps out the door faster than James can come up with a response.

James is still standing and muttering to himself, starring at the doorway, "Stupid git… thinks he's so much better… I'll get him back…"

"James? Helloooo?" I wave my hand in front of my face and when he doesn't respond I pull him forcefully back down to his seat.

"Ouch!" He looks around at me and says, "Oh, sorry about that. Did I zone out?"

"Just a bit." pipes up Lily and we all turn to look at her. Apparently she decided to use all the commotion as an excuse to wake up.

"Oh, you're awake then?" Asks Casimir, then, "You didn't hear any of that, did you?"

She puts on a confused face and says, "Any of what?"

Casimir looks at James who shakes his head slightly. Lily pretends to not see the silent exchange and Casimir says, "Oh nothing, we were just hoping we didn't have to catch you up on the conversation."

She laughs lightly and after a bit we all break into separate conversations. Lily and I talk about classes; what they'll be about and what they teachers will be like. Casimir and James start talking about their future ambitions in Quidditch. We carry on like this for a long while and nobody brings up with happened with Severus and I wonder if I should talk to Lily about it later. She knows that I know she wasn't really asleep. I wonder if she'll even want to talk about it. I decide to let her bring it up- if she wants to talk then she'll talk.

After a while I look out the window and notice the sun has begun to set already. "We must be almost there; we should probably get our robes on." I say and everyone nods in agreement and extracts their robes from their luggage. We dress in silence and then fall back into our separate conversations again until we feel the train start to slow and eventually come to a stop. We're finally at Hogwarts.

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**Tell me what ya think?**


	2. Of Sortings

**A/N:** Sorry it's a bit shorter than the last, this is more or less just a filler chapter though. Nothing too exciting, pretty much just stuff everyone already knows. This will probably be the last chapter set in the first year, I'll be skipping ahead to later years after with much longer and higher quality chapters!

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The night air is cold and the only light comes from the moon as James, Casimir, Lily and I step off the train and onto the hard ground. I pull my robe closer to me and begin searching the crowd for Hagrid, who I know I will have to follow to the boats.

"Well, I'll see you guys up at the castle." Casimir says and joins a group of his friends in search of a horse-less carriage.

"How do we get up to the school then?" Asks Lily as she watches Casimir climb into a large carriage that immediately starts off toward the school.

"All the first years go by boat across the lake with Hagrid." Explains James and, as if on cue, Hagrid emerges from the train a few doors down and starts to holler, "Firs' years, follow me!"

"Please tell me that's not Hagrid." Lily says, looking at the half-giant with a kind of fear.

"Oh Hagrid's alright, he may look intimidating now but you should see him when he's wearing his flowery apron." Says James, trying to make a joke, but I can sense a subtle defensive edge to his voice which is understandable, Hagrid is an old friend of both our families.

"Okay." Says Lily, still looking a little apprehensive as we make our way through the thick crowd to get up next to him.

Soon we're close enough for James to grab Hagrid's elbow and get his attention. After a few seconds Hagrid looks down and his confused expression turns to one of recognition as he smiles at James.

"James!" He exclaims as he sweeps him up into a massive bear hug. After he puts him down he notices me and his smile gets even bigger. "Oh 'nd little Lux too! 'Ow are ya both?" He asks as we shuffle along together through the massive crowd of students, all excited to be back at Hogwarts for another year of school.

"I'm good Hagrid, how are you?" I say, smiling back at him.

"I'm good, I'm good. It's so good ter see ya, you'll be comin' down fer tea firs' chance you get, righ'?" He asks, looking hopefully from me to James.

"You bet!" James says.

"Every chance we get." I say.

"Oh," says Hagrid, noticing Lily walking silently along with us for the first time, "And who's this?"

"This is Lily Hagrid; we just met her on the train." I say, smiling encouragingly at Lily because she's still looking nervous.

"Hi." She says so softly I'm surprised Hagrid can even hear her.

"Well, 'tis nice ter meet ya Lily, I'm Rubeus Hagrid, grounds keeper here at Hogwarts," he says and then, taking on a more serious air, "I do 'ave ta advise ya of one thing though Lily."

"What's that?" She asks, looking a little concerned.

"I'd keep away from James here if I were ya, he's nottin' but trouble this one." His booming laughter echoes around the station as he slaps James on the back, who stumbles but manages to keep from falling.

Lily laughs and says, "I'll keep that in mind, thank you."

We walk on for a while in silence and soon we've reached the shore of the lake where hundreds of small boats were waiting to carry us across. James, Lily and I make our way to one and leave Hagrid at the shore to oversee all of the first years. As soon as we're seated, though slightly cramped, the boat begins to magically cut across the glassy surface of the water at a reasonable pace. "I'll see ya up at the castle!" Hagrid yells after us and we turn to wave, letting him know we heard.

"I can't wait to see the castle." Lily says excitedly, barely able to keep herself from bouncing up and down in the cramped boat.

"Yeah, me neither." I say and I'm surprised to find that I too am having a hard time keeping still. I guess that all of the commotion on the train had pretty much pushed all thoughts of Hogwarts and what house I'll get into out of my head, but now I'm feeling pretty anxious. I wonder what James is feeling? Right now he looks completely composed, serene. I wonder if he's got even the slightest fear of not getting into Gryffindor. I fidget with the sleeve of my robe, feeling uncomfortable and maybe just a little seasick. No one is talking in any of the boats, none that I can hear anyway. It's too quiet and I can hear a buzzing silence in my ears.

What is the school thinking bringing the first years to the castle this way? It's incredibly intimidating and nerve-wracking. I can feel the tension from every other person on this lake and it really might make me throw up. Having your own anxiety to worry about is one thing, but having to deal with a hundred other people's constricting and confining moods is too much. Being able to sense other people's feelings usually isn't a problem for me, it is only strongest between my mom and I, but when a bunch of people are all feeling a strong emotion, it's hard for me to not pick up on. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, setting my head onto my lap. I keep breathing deep for a couple of minutes and eventually start to feel better, start to be able to push some of the feelings away. I stay that way for a long time, concentrating on just my own emotions and blocking all the others out. After a while our boat suddenly stops and I jerk my head up so fast I almost give myself whiplash.

As I'm rubbing the back of my neck my eyes slowly travel up and take in the castle before me. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. The large turrets of the tower reach so high that they dissolve into the night sky. I look over to Lily who is starring at the castle with just as much wonderment as me and James whispers a barely audible "whoa."

We clumsily clamber out of the boat and it takes just a bit for our legs to un-cramp and become used to land again. We stretch our legs, walking along the shore of the lake and gazing up at the castle as we wait for Hagrid and everyone else to reach the shore.

"It's incredible, isn't it?" I say, trying the break the silence that seemed to have fallen over us.

"Yeah, it really is," Lily says, "I would have never imagined something so… magical." She says, laughing softly.

A few minutes go by and Hagrid and all the other first years have finally made it to shore, all looking a little shocked at the castle as just as James, Lily and I were.

"Alrigh', follow me ev'ry one." Hagrid booms as he holds up his lantern so he can see us all. I hadn't even noticed how dark it had become since my eyes had been fixed to the castle and lights shone from every window. Now that I focused my eyes onto my closer surroundings I realized that I could barely see two feet in front of me anymore. I followed the slowly moving light that was Hagrid and the closer we got to the castle the more I could see; the many lights from inside lit up the lawn in front. We came to a set of stairs leading up to a large wooden door and Hagrid banged loudly on it. It immediately swung open, seemingly of its own volition and we quickly filed inside. The room was large and circular and several flaming torches were hanging from brackets on the stone walls, lighting it sufficiently. Before I had too much time to look around though a tall, strict looking woman opened a door opposite the one we came in and stepped inside.

"Hagrid, what took so long? Dumbledore had to stall with an elongated speech. He's been spewing nonsense for the past ten minutes!" She pressed her lips into a tight, thin line and I felt sorry for Hagrid, and also hoped that I would never be on the receiving end of this woman's anger.

"Er, sorry Professor, I didn't realize-"

The woman cut him off, "It doesn't matter now! I just need to get these children to the Great Hall quickly." She looks past Hagrid over all of us, her eyes narrowing, "Follow me now children, and quickly!"

She didn't have to tell any of us twice. We were out of that room and practically running down a long, narrow hallway in just a matter of seconds. After making so many turns that I couldn't keep count any longer we reached a very large staircase and two sets of enormous wooden doors, reaching up to the ceiling. We turned to the door on the left and the woman pushed them open frantically, they moved just enough for us to walk through and as we were ushered in I couldn't help but feel like we were a herd of Hippogriff's.

I couldn't believe the room I was seeing, it was so incredible. Candles hung suspended in mid-air all around the room and the ceiling seemed to have been enchanted to mirror the sky outside, making it look like it had no ceiling at all. I felt everyone around me gasp and look around the room in amazement; I wondered how silly we look to the older students, gaping at the strange things they had grown quite accustomed to.

"Ah! I see our new students have arrived at last!" A voice from the front of the room says, sounding relieved, "Then let the sorting begin!" I stand on my tip toes to get a look at the man and smile when I realize that it's Dumbledore.

A small stool is placed in front of the teachers tables and the strict woman who brought us here goes to stand beside it and pulls a long roll of parchment out of her green robe. She sniffs once and adjusts her glasses and calls out, "Arch, Lea" and looks at us expectantly. The girl next to me shits uncomfortably and then begins to make her way to the stool. She stands in front of it awkwardly until the woman in the green robe gestures, with the air of someone trying to keep their patience, for her to sit on it. She sits down and the woman reaches into her robe again, this time pulling out what looks like a very tattered hat. Lea Arch looks at her quizzically but doesn't get the chance to ask a question before the hat is shoved onto her head, falling right over her eyes.

There is a collective gasp from the crowd around me as we watch the hat open its… mouth and begin to murmur, seemingly to itself. After a few seconds the hat shouts out "RAVENCLAW" and James and I look at each other, finally realizing, as everyone else around us, what this was all for. I had thought they were bringing us somewhere to sort us but I would have never imagined an old hat would be doing the sorting… I thought it was going to be Dumbledore, and not in front of the entire school. I wish Casimir would have just told me about this beforehand, but he insisted it be a surprise, just as James's parents had.

A few more people are sorted and then the name "Black, Sirius" is called to the front. I see James stiffen beside me and I turn to see him glaring expectantly as Sirius has the hat placed on his head.

"What is it James?" I ask.

"Oh," He says, turning his head towards me, but never taking his eyes off of Sirius, "His family is to Slytherin like ours is to Gryffindor. I'm sure you've heard of the Blacks Lux."

I think for a second and I do remember being at James's house once and overhearing our mothers in the kitchen, talking about the youngest Black son… actually I think they were wondering if he was going to be in the same year as James and I. I nod to James though his eyes are still focused on the boy on the stool. I glance over to what must be the Slytherin table, all dressed in green and sliver, and there is a look of anticipation on each of their faces. I look back to the front again once the hat opens its mouth, finally ready to place him somewhere.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

I see James's jaw drop slightly and his eyes widen as the Gryffindor table breaks out into a hesitant applause. I look to the Slytherin table again to see all of them looking very shocked. The woman in green pauses for only a second before she continues with the sorting. "Carwin, Lux!"

"Here, we go." I say, smiling to James and Lily before sitting on the stool and having the hat shoved on. I'm not expecting it to talk to me but I let out just a small gasp of surprise.

"Well, this isn't going to be hard at all," it says and I unconsciously cross my fingers before the hat opens its brim wide and shouts out, "GRYFFINDOR!" I smile wide and go to sit at the loudly applauding table.

A few more people were sorted and then it was Lily's turn. I can't help but hope that she's in Gryffindor; I really think we can become good friends, and maybe I can make something out of her and James. I smile at the thought and my smile only gets wider as Lily is sorted into Gryffindor and comes to take the seat next to me, smiling radiantly.

"I'm so happy we're in the same house!" She exclaims, wrapping her arms around me in her joy. I laugh as I hug her back and then we both fall into silence as we wait for James to be sorted. Almost everyone is sorted when James's name is finally called and I'm tired and even more hungry. The hat is barely placed on James's head before it declares him a Gryffindor and I clap along with everyone else as he comes to sit on the other side of Lily.

Not long after the sorting is finally finished and the dishes on the table fill with every kind of food imaginable. I eat greedily until my stomach can't possibly hold any more and I barely pay attention as I follow the heads of our house to the Gryffindor common room. I don't really register the room around me, just that it's warm and inviting, and I'm hardly awake as Lily pulls me along to the girls dormitories after saying a quick goodnight to James. We make it into the girls dormitory and I just throw myself onto the closest unoccupied bed, Lily taking the one next to me. We try to talk but sleep quickly overcomes us, and my last coherent thoughts are of my excitement at my first year of school at Hogwarts with James and Lily and everyone else I will soon meet.


	3. Of Werewolfs

**A/N:** I've skipped ahead to third year in this one, just because if I would have done one about their second year it would have been boring with no plot whatsoever. That's actually why this chapter took so long, I started out writing a chapter about second year and I was about ten pages into when I realized that it was about nothing, so I just threw it out and did this one instead! This story is starting out a little slower than I wanted it too, but it will get to more action stuff soon, I just need to lay the groundwork first.

Oh and thanks to all of those that have reviewed or added to your story alerts! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

"Oh, I can't believe you both have to leave me again so soon!" My mom exclaimed as she tried hard to hold back the tears that were accumulating in her eyes. Steam was pouring from the whistling train and the platform was nearly deserted, if she didn't let us go right now, we were going to be late.

"I know mom, I know. But if you could handle the last two years then I'm sure you can handle this one too." I said, looking anxiously over my shoulder at the train, "We'll be sure to write, everyday if you want!" She nodded her head quickly and enveloped me in a tight hug. Casimir had finally had enough; he pried me loose of her grip and pulled me along behind him as we boarded the train.

"See you in a couple of months mom!" He yelled over his shoulder just before pulling me through the door and slamming it shut.

"That was kind of rude." I said, but my tone held no conviction, I was as glad as him to have finally gotten away from her.

"Yeah, it kind of was," He said, already sounding guilty, "But if we would have waited any longer we would have missed the train!"

"I know." I said as I braced myself against the wall; the train had lurched forward.

"Well, I'm going to go find Derrick and the others," He said as he started down the aisle, dragging his trunk behind him. He turned his head to look over his shoulder at me and said, "See ya sis."

I smiled and waved before heading down the opposite aisle to search for James and the others. I was almost at the end of the train, thinking I had gone the wrong way and would have to go all the way back, when I finally found them. I sighed in relief and quickly slid the door open.

Peter jumped slightly at the sudden intrusion and then, "Lux, there you are!" Came the relieved voice of James.

"What took you so long?" That would be Remus, sounding anxious.

"Yeah, we thought you'd missed the train." And, last but not least, Sirius, relaxed as ever, his hands behind his head, feet resting on the seat in front of him.

"Glad to see you didn't worry yourself too much." I said, shooting him a playful glare.

He shrugged and stood up to pull my luggage through the door and place it on the rack. "Thanks." I said, taking the seat that his feet had previously occupied. He shrugged again and simply flopped back into his seat.

"So why were you so late?" Remus asked, staring interestedly at me, his hands folded over a book in his lap.

"Just my mom being all sentimental. She really didn't want to let us go."

"Yeah, my mom was the same way." Sirius said, making everyone laugh.

"So has anyone seen Lily?" I asked, thinking I'd go sit with her for a while later.

"Oh yeah, I saw her alright." James said, pulling a disgusted face as he sat back and crossed his arms.

"And?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She's sitting with Snivellus." He said, sneering the spiteful nickname.

"Oh Lily," I said, shaking my head and frowning, "I'll never understand why she likes spending time with him. He's dreadful! Not to mention what he said about her when he saw her on the train in first year." I said, a look of disdain taking over my face.

"I know," said Remus, "But he does seem to be a lot nicer to her now. Maybe he's changed?"

"Severus, change?" James said incredulously, "That's impossible."

Sirius, nodding his head, said, "I agree with Jamsie."

"Me too." I said, folding my arms across my chest in defiance, "A person as rotten as him doesn't deserve to be friends with Lily." James nodded vigorously in agreement. Remus just sighed and slowly picked up his book to begin reading again. I decided not to go visit Lily since I didn't want to upset her by getting in an argument with Snape, so I just sat and talked with my four best friends about how our third year in school would be. The sky slowly darkened and we all changed into our school robes right before we reached Hogsmead station. We walked off the train together and all piled into a horseless carriage. The ride to the castle was quiet except for James and Sirius's soft chatter, probably putting together a "welcome back" prank because I definitely heard the word "Slytherin" a couple of times.

Walking into the Great Hall was like a breathe of fresh air. I hadn't realized how much I'd really missed Hogwarts until I was back there. The enchanted ceiling, the floating candles and Dumbledore in his pointed wizard's hat all felt so comforting that I couldn't stop the huge grin that slipped onto my face.

James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and I all found a spot together at the Gryffindor table. We sat down to talk animatedly to our fellow classmates for a few minutes, while we waited for the first years to arrive from their travel across the lake. I was talking to Leanne Patil when I heard someone call my name from behind me and I turned around to see Lily walking towards me.

"Excuse me." I turned back and said to Leanne, who smiled and nodded, before I quickly stood up and met Lily half-way.

"Hi!" She said, pulling me into a hug. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to my spot, squishing her into the small space next to me.

"So how was your trip to France?" I asked her, resting my elbows on the table.

"Oh, it was so much fun!" She said, smiling happily, "But, you know, I'd love to go again and see the magical side. I bet it would be like an entirely different place."

"Yeah," I said, nodding. "Well you definitely got tan!" I said, noticing how much darker her face was. It was hard to see anything else though, due to the long robes.

She nodded and, noticing Remus sitting next to her said, "Looks like you got some sun too, eh Remus?" turning to him and winking. He blushed slightly and nodded.

"I got tan too! I was out playing Quidditch every day this summer." James said proudly, mussing his hair and puffing out his chest. Lily just ignored him and turned back to me.

"So what'd you do this summer?" She asked, trying to hold the anger back at James's ineptitude.

"Uhh," I said, eyes darting between James and Lily, a small frown on my face, "Oh, nothing special." Lily opened her mouth to say something more but, before she could, the doors to the Great Hall swung open and Mrs. McGonagall strode in with a line of first years behind her.

"Ahh, fresh meat." James said, rubbing his hands together as they walked past, looking small and very afraid. I chuckled under my breath and Lily gave him an icy glare.

The sorting and feast went fairly quickly and before I knew it, it was time to head up to our dormitories. Nothing sounded more inviting than my comfortable four poster bed and I would have ran all the way up to Gryffindor tower if I wasn't exhausted and as stuffed as a turkey. When we finally made it up to our dorms, I fell onto my bed and went to sleep without even changing my clothes.

About two months into the school year Remus snuck into the girl's dorms, undoubtedly with some ingenious spell of his, and insisted that I came with him to the boy's dormitories.

"What's this all about Remus?" I asked through a loud yawn as he led me into the third year boy's dorms.

"Just come with me, I have something I want to tell you all." He said, sounding really anxious. I looked around the room to see James, Sirius and Peter all wide awake, sitting up in their beds.

"Geez, what time is it?" I asked.

"About three in the A.M., my dear cousin." James said in his usual cheerful manner.

"You guys should try sleeping sometime. You'd never believe how wonderful it is." I said as I lay down on Remus's unoccupied bed. "What's so important then, that I had to wake up at three in the morning to hear?"

"Well, we don't know," Sirius said, sitting cross legged on his bed and starring up at Remus, "This was all Remus's doing."

"Yeah…" Remus said, looking down at the floor and wringing his hands, "Well, it's like this… you see, I'm not... I'm different and… I didn't think… But now I do… and I wanted to… You know…"

"Oh for goodness sake Remus just spit it out!" I said, getting a little impatient. It _was_ three in the morning.

"Uh, right." He said and took a great breath, "I'm a werewolf."

I sat up slowly, my eyebrows knitted together above my eyes. Remus seemed to be waiting to gage our reactions; he had completely stilled and his eyes were flickering between each of us in turn. I looked over at Sirius, whose bed was closest to Remus's, and found him looking just as relaxed as always. James, however, seemed to be doing the same as me, simply processing the information. Peter was looking at everyone else to see how he should be reacting.

"How long?" James asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked at Remus.

"At least as long as we've known him." Sirius said quietly.

"You knew?" I asked, sounding a little hurt, "Why would you tell him before us, Remus?" But when I looked up at Remus I saw that he seemed just as shocked that Sirius knew.

"How long have you known Sirius?" Remus asked, sounding confused.

"Oh, come on, I'm surprised none of you figured it out much sooner." He said, looking around at us, as if trying to encourage us, "No one noticed how he seemed to be gone for some lame excuse or the other once a month?"

I thought back and realized that it really should have been more obvious to me. I guess that one of your friends being a werewolf is just something that most people aren't suspecting.

"Okay, but why did you wait to long to tell us?" James asked, still looking thoughtful.

"Well…" he said, fidgeting with a loose thread on his sleeve, "I guess I was afraid that you guys wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore."

I immediately felt a sickening sensation overcome me. How could Remus ever feel that way? Especially with us! "But you must know we're better people than that!" I said, tears filling my eyes as I spoke, "That we wouldn't judge you that we'd still care for you no matter what!"

"Well, I…" he started, looking nervously around the room. "I've never really had any friends before you all." He finally said, looking down at his feet and blushing slightly, "I didn't have any idea what you guys would think, so I thought I would wait until I was comfortable with telling you." It was quiet for a moment and I slowly got off of the bed and walked to the center of the room where Remus was standing. He lifted his head, one eyebrow raised in confusion, until I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a hug. It took a few seconds, but he eventually hugged me back.

_I'm just sorry you had to deal with this alone for so long._ I thought and he suddenly froze.

"What did you just say?" He asked, stepping back a bit so he could look at me.

"Uh, nothing?" I said, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"No, you said something. Only it felt like it was in my head." He said slowly, looking bemused.

"Hey, that sounds like your telepathy thing Lux." James piped up from his spot on the bed. Everyone turned to look at James, bewilderment plainly on all their faces.

"Telepathy?" Sirius asked like he thought it was a prank of some sort, "since when had Lux been a telepath?'

"Well, for as long as I can remember really." I said, drawing the attention back on myself, "But usually I can only sense emotions. And that's only if one emotion is really running really high among a large group of people. Exam week is murder for me." I said, smirking. "The only person I can really read well is my mom. I can send her my emotions and read hers very easily. Sometimes I can even see flashes of images from her head, or send her images from my head. I'm getting better at doing it with Casimir too and I can sometimes get it with James if I really concentrate, but they're the only ones." The room was silent for a moment as Remus, Sirius and Peter digested this information.

"How come you've never told us this?" Sirius asked.

"Well, I guess I've never really seen a reason for it. I mean, I'm not even that good, it's more like a heightened sense of feeling than anything else." I said, shrugging.

"So what was me being able to hear you all about?" Remus asked.

"Well..." I said, tapping my finger on my chin as I thought, "Maybe it was because we were both so emotional, and the fact that we were touching?" I said, taking a wild, but probable, guess.

"Have you ever tried to do this with anyone other than family?" Remus asked, sounding interested.

"Well, no. Like I said my family is pretty much all that knows."

"You should start trying with us more often too." Remus said, "I bet you could get really good if you practiced with more people."

"Yeah, we all can help." Sirius said, smiling.

"Thanks guys, I'd never really given much thought to trying to improve it. You don't even have to do much, just sit there and tell me if you can sense or see anything." I said, feeling kind of excited at the prospect of trying it out. I didn't want to get myself too excited though, what I had might be as good as it would get.

After a few minutes I returned to sitting in Remus's bed, as did Remus after a little while, and we all sat around and talked for a couple of hours. We were lucky that it was early Saturday morning when Remus woke us up or we would have all been to tired to get to first period. But, seeing as it was the weekend, I didn't care how long I stayed up after I was up. I fell asleep around six in the morning, tucked under Remus's blankets while he stayed on top of them.

A few hours later, I slowly became aware of someone knocking insistently on the door. "Make it stop." I whined sleepily and dug my face into the pillow.

"Guys wake up!" The person knocking yelled, "I can't find Lux anywhere, come on!"

"Dang it Lily." I mumbled under my breath before untangling myself from the blankets and slipping out of Remus's bed, being careful not to wake him. I slowly shuffled to the door, flinching at every hard knock and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I swung the door open and glared at Lily, hand raised in mid- knock. "Do you mind?" I hissed irritably.

"Lux! Where have you been?" She cried, smiling and pulling me into a hug.

I glanced behind me to make sure everyone was still asleep and then stepped into the hall further and closed the door behind me. "I was in the boy's dorms, Remus came and got me from our dorm around three and I guess I fell asleep in there." I said, starting to make my way to the girls' dorms.

"What did Remus want you for?" She asked, sounding mildly irritated. She hated when people broke the school rules and a girl sleeping the boys' dorm was definitely against said rules.

"Some stupid prank." I said, shrugging and avoiding eye contact. She could always tell when I was lying if I looked her in the eyes.

"Well, you really shouldn't-" She started and I could sense a lecture so I quickly interrupted.

"It is too late to get breakfast? I'm starving!" I said as I pushed open the door to our room and started rifling through my trunk to find some clothes.

She sighed and said, deciding to abandon the lecture, "No, it's not too late if you hurry." I quickly changed into clean clothes and we walked out of the dorm together. As we passed the guys room I stopped outside the door and said, "Do you think we should wake them? You know how cranky they get when they don't have their breakfast."

Lily heaved and irritated sigh and crossed her arms before saying curtly, "Go ahead."

I quietly entered the room, Lily not far behind, and walked up to James's bed. She stood over him, arms still crossed and glaring at his face as I poked him in the back and quietly said his name. After a little while of that not working, I started to poke him harder and say his name louder. When that didn't work, I simply screamed his name right in his ear. He jerked a little and opened his eyes, coming face to face with Lily. He blinked a few times and then a wide smile began to spread across his face as he said, "I _did_ make it to Heaven."

Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes and I gave a loud cough to announce my presence. James turned to look at me and said, confused, "Are you dead too?"

I held back a giggle and said, "No James, none of us are dead. But if you don't hurry up and get dressed you're going to miss breakfast."

James looked back to Lily, who was looking deliberately away from him and then back to me. "Okay." He said, sounding a little depressed.

"You'll wake the others?" I asked. He nodded and I said, "Okay, Lily and I will wait for you in the commons." I skipped happily out of the room, grabbing Lily on the way, and we sat together on the large couch in front of the fire to wait.

A few days later I was sitting in Transfigurations when a piece of folded parchment landed on top of my book. I looked around questioningly until I saw James, sitting in the back next to Peter, and mouthing 'open it.' I picked it up and quickly unfolded it to find James's messy scrawl written across the middle of the paper.

_Meet in secret room after classes today._

I looked back at him confusedly but he just shook his head and looked down at his book. Then I looked to Peter, who simply shrugged, looking just as confused as I was.

A couple of hours later, when I was all finished with my classes for the day, I made my way up to the seventh floor. I starred at the blank stretch of wall for a moment, thinking of how I wanted to phrase my sentence. When I had it I started pacing in front of it and thought, '_I'm here for James's secret meeting.' _Three times before I opened my eyes slowly, afraid I'd done it wrong because I still wasn't all that accustomed to using it. We had only found the room towards the end of last year, trying to find a place to hide from Filch after we set off dungbombs in his office.

I smiled proudly as I opened my eyes all the way and found that the door was there. I quickly entered the room to find James and Peter already there. The room was small, just big enough to fit five chairs, similar to those in Gryffindor tower, a large table in the middle of them, and a good sized bookcase in one corner.

"Okay, we're only waiting for Sirius now." James said, motioning that I should take a seat.

"Just Sirius? What about Remus?" I asked as I sat in the chair next to James.

"Oh no, Remus won't be coming," He said, looking at the clock on the wall impatiently, "But I'll explain that later. If Sirius ever gets here."

"Don't you all have your last class together?" I ask, wondering why Sirius wasn't with them in the first place.

"Yeah we do, but Sirius was being too careless and dropped the table he was levitating on top of Professor Flitwick." I smiled and shook my head, wishing I could have been there to see it.

After a few minutes I stood up and walked over to the bookcase to look at all the books stacked on it. I pulled one out at random and it read, _The Basic Instructions on How to Become an Animagus._ I starred down at the cover, one eyebrow raised, and looked slowly over my shoulder at James, who was tapping his foot impatiently and kept glancing at the clock every few seconds. I was about to say something when Sirius finally arrived. He slowly walked into the room, looking just as carefree as always.

"What took you so long?" James asked, sounding irritated.

"Sorry mate, you saw what happened." Sirius said, taking the seat next to mine.

I took my place again as I asked, "Detention?"

"As usual, love." He replied, stretching out and placing his hands behind his head.

"So what was it you wanted to talk about James?" Peter asked, sounding anxious.

"Oh, yeah," He said, coming back to his thoughts, "Well, as we all know now, Remus is a werewolf."

"Yes, I think we've established that." Sirius said, smirking slightly as he realized that he'd gotten to James.

"I know that." James said, sounding irritated, "Okay, let's try it this way," He said, more to himself then us, "If you were given the opportunity, would you want to help Remus with his condition, even in the slightest way?"

This got everyone's attention. We all nodded our heads as we starred intently at James.

"Alright then," He said, looking pleased with himself, "I have an idea that could make his transformations more bearable. I've been doing some research on werewolves in the library and I've found out that when a werewolf can be around others animals that are comfortable with it, then the werewolf is able to take its aggression out on an animal that can handle it instead of a person or itself."

We all continued to stare at James, mostly shocked that he'd been to the library and actually researched something. I wondered how he even knew how to go about researching a topic at the library, I guess I was always taking James's real intelligence for granted, but I was more interested in what he was getting at with all this.

"So?" Sirius prodded him forward, anxious to hear more.

"So, as I'm sure you're all aware, there is a type of transfiguration that transfigures humans into animals. It's highly advanced magic, but I think that over time we would easily master it. Then we could be there for Remus when he needs us the most."

I had figured that this is what he was leading up to, especially since I had seen the books, but I didn't think that James understood how difficult it would be. "James," I said, reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder, "I don't think you realize how hard this would be. First of all it is really advanced magic, way beyond our years, and second we would have to register with the Ministry and they would never let a bunch of thirteen-year-olds become animagus's to run around with a werewolf once a month."

"Well, like I said before, I know it's going to be difficult but I also know it's not impossible. And as for the Ministry problem, I wouldn't worry about it. We don't have to register, as long as no one knows that we're animagus's it's not anything to worry about." He said, smiling broadly at us all.

I thought about it for only a moment before I decided to do it. It would be fun, despite the possible consequences, and I would do anything to help Remus's condition. Sirius agreed to do it also, no surprise there, he thrived on all things that broke rules, and Peter agreed too, though he was a little less enthusiastic about it.

"Alright!" James said, clapping his hands together enthusiastically, "Then it's settled. We'll try to meet here every night after classes, only we should say, _I need to learn how to become an Animagus_, instead of what we said tonight, this room is a little too small. Oh, and no telling Remus! I want it to be a surprise."


	4. Of Valentines Day Disasters

**A/N:** Phew! Finally! Haha, sorry this took so long to get out!!

Oh and sorry if there's a few more mistakes than usual, I didn't take as long as I wanted to to edit this chapter but if I would of than it would have taken a few more days for me to get it out!

Enjoy!

Oh, one more thing! Thanks a bunch to everyone that has reviewed so far! I appreciate is so much!

* * *

"Night James, Sirius, Peter." I said groggily as I rubbed my eyes and shuffled across the common room. It was three in the morning and the four of us had just come back from the secret room after a long Animagus session. I had to admit though that we were getting too big for all of us to fit under James's invisibility cloak any longer and someday Filch was going to catch us coming back to the common room at the break of dawn.

Tonight made it one month since we started practicing and we were slowly making progress. It wouldn't be too much longer until we all mastered the transfiguration and would be able to tell Remus.

"Goodnight Lux." They mumbled in unison and stumbled sleepily up to their dorms. I did the same and promptly fell asleep only to be woken up five hours later by Lily.

"Lux come on, there's a Hogsmead visit today and I want to get there early!" She exclaimed as she shook me awake. I tried to ignore her and keep sleeping but she wasn't about to let me. She conjured up a bucket of ice cold water and dumped it on top of me.

"Damn it Lily!" I yelled as I shot out of bed and proceeded to jump up and down on the spot.

"Well, you should have gotten up." She said, putting a hand on her hop and sounding like her bossy self.

"Fine, well I'm up now!" I snapped as I used my want to dry myself off.

"Sheesh, someone's crabby." Lily said, rolling her eyes and going to sit on her bed to wait for me to get ready.

"Well you would be too if you only got five hours of sleep and got woken up by a bucket of cold water." I grumbled as I looked through my trunk for some clean clothes.

"Why did you only get five hours of sleep?" Lily asked sounding curious.

"Uh," I said, turning away from her so she couldn't see my face, "I couldn't get to sleep so I took out some homework and went down to the common room to work on it."

"I thought I saw someone leave the dorm last night!" Lily exclaimed, "I was going to talk to all the girls and report it because I thought they were trying to sneak out after curfew but if you were just studying then there's nothing wrong with that."

Wow, I really had to be more careful from now on, I was positive that Lily was fast asleep when I'd snuck out to meet everyone last night. "What do you want to go to Hogsmead so bad for anyway?" I asked, trying to change the subject so Lily couldn't register the nervous pitch my voice had taken on.

"The Valentines Day dance is next week. I want to get a dress," She said, then glared over at me, "And I'd like to get going before all the good ones are gone!"

"Fine, fine! I'm ready!" I said, throwing up my hands in mock surrender. The two of us exited to dorm together to find James and Sirius standing near the bottom of the staircase, looking expectantly up at us.

"What are they up to?" Lily mumbled mostly to herself as she narrowed her eyes at them and began to walk down the stairs.

I followed after her and once I got to the bottom I stopped and put my hands on my hops at the same time as Lily. The guys seemed amused by this but we continued to glare at their innocent expressions.

"What do you guys want?" I asked, sounding cautious.

Sirius and James looked at each other before turning their innocent faces back to us and Sirius said, "Well, I suppose we're waiting for invitations to the dance next week."

The color in Lily's face immediately jumped to red in anger as she dropped her hands from her hip and balled them into fists instead as she glared even more fiercely at James. "Oh really? Well I hope you weren't expecting it from me!"

I had somewhat of an opposite reaction. I relaxed slightly, realizing that this would be an easy way to get a date instead of stressing about it over the next week. Besides, Sirius is one of my best friends, and I'd much rather go to the dance with him than some random guy.

"Would you like to accompany me to the Valentines dance next Friday Sirius?" I asked as I looked up at him with a small smile.

"Oh, I was actually waiting for Alice to come down." He said, looking around me at the door to the girl's dorm. I felt my face growing warm in embarrassment as I ducked my head to look at the ground. Why would I assume that he was waiting for me to ask him? Of course James was here waiting for Lily but she could have come down with any girl and Sirius would have still been here. I was about to excuse myself and quickly duck out of the common room when Sirius gave a loud bark of laughter. My head snapped up and I saw him almost doubled over in laughter and, with a wave of relief, I realized that he was kidding. I could have hit him if I didn't find it amusing also.

"That was just mean!" I said, trying to sound irritated but failing horribly. It was impossible to be mad when looking at Sirius's smiling face. I had just turned to focus my attention back on Lily and James when Lily suddenly pushed past James and Sirius and walked out of the common room, mumbling something under her breath. I looked to James but he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, staring into the distance with a confused, yet pleased look on his face. I raised an eyebrow at him before following Lily's progression out of the common room. I found her a couple of hallways away, sitting on the floor and staring blankly at the wall. I walked up to her and squatted down beside her.

I sat there for a long time, just staring at her blank face before she finally spoke, eyes never leaving the wall in front of her. "I'm going to the dance with James."

Inside I was burning with about a million questions but I knew that I would have to wait for answers so I simply blinked a couple of times in surprise before saying, "Well we should get going so we can get our dresses then, since we both have dates now!" Lily slowly turned to look at me and after a few seconds she gave a chuckle and go up off the floor.

"Well I guess you're right, aren't you?" And we headed off to Hogsmeade. Once there we went to the only nice formal dress shop in the town; Madame Jazz's. After a while of looking around we both found something that we liked. Lily had picked out a long, strapless black dress and I found a floor-length, strapless red dress. On the way out I picked up a matching tie for Sirius and then Lily and I went to the three broomsticks for a butterbeer and to meet up with James and Sirius.

"Hey guys." I said as I slid in the booth across from Sirius. They nodded in greeting and Lily simply stared down at her hands, seeming embarrassed. I had never seen Lily like that before and I secretly smiled to myself, realizing that she was probably starting to finally fall for James. I could understand it, it would be hard to stay so resilient to someone who adores you so openly though James was still rather big-headed and his ego was in definite need of a deflation, which Lily did give it on a daily basis.

We stayed there for a while, talking and drinking our butterbeers until I remembered that I wanted to look for a new book on human transfigurations and I quickly excused myself. I walked to the small book store about a block away and stepped inside its almost stuffy interior, a big contrast from the chilly air outside. It was quaint and small with bookshelves towering far over my head. I had been here a couple of times in the past so I was fairly acquainted with how the sections were arranged. I was on my way to the Transfiguration section when I walked past an aisle and caught I figure in my peripheral vision. I paused for a moment and realized that I was Remus.

"Hey Remus." I said quietly as I walked up beside him, trying not to startle him since he seemed pretty engrossed in the book we was holding. He jumped and looked at me, slamming the book shut and hastily shoving it back onto its shelf.

"Hey Lux!" He said a little too enthusiastically, his cheeks staining pink. I almost asked what he was reading, but decided better of it. "What are you doing here?" He asked. Now it was my turn to blush.

"Oh, just looking for a good book, you know. I haven't read a good book in a looong time." I said, voice rising slightly with anxiousness. I hated lying to people, especially Remus. He was such an honest and trusting person, but he couldn't know about this. Not yet anyways.

"Yeah I know what you mean." He said, smiling slightly, my anxious behavior obviously going right over his head. "Hey, what's in the bag?" He asked suddenly, noticing the bag with my dress in it.

I held it up and smiled, "Just my dress for the dance." I said, glad for the subject change.

"Oh, are you… uh… going with anyone?" He asked, the color returning to his face again as he looked to the floor.

I looked at him confusedly for a second, not understanding his embarrassment, before saying, "Yeah, Sirius asked me this morning."

His head snapped up with such a force that I was surprised his neck didn't break, "Sirius?!" He exclaimed, a number of emotions running across his face, all too fast for me to distinguish one.

"Uh… yeah?" I said, feeling slightly nervous at his behavior.

"Oh…" He said, suddenly calm again, "I just didn't realize…" His eyebrows came together in thought before he shrugged slightly and said, "Well, I'd better get going, I told Peter I'd meet him at the Three Broomsticks." And he was gone before I could say good-bye.

"That was… strange." I mumbled to myself. I was about to leave the aisle and continue on to the Transfiguration section when a thought came to me and I looked up at the section we were in with curiosity. 'Lycanthropy' the small sign at the top of the shelf read and I sighed sadly.

***

The next week went by in a blur and before I knew it, it was the night of the dance. As far as I knew Remus still hadn't found a date. Or, more likely, he didn't look for one. I knew tons of girls who would be more than happy to go with him if he would have asked. I mean, even Peter had found himself a date.

"We'll meet you guys in the common room around eight, okay?" Sirius called after Lily and me as we made our way up to the girl's dormitories to get ready.

"Got it!" I yelled over my shoulder and then quickly stepped inside, anxious to get dressed up. It wasn't often that we did things like this at Hogwarts and only third years and above were ever allowed to go, so this would be our first year attending. I was excited to get dressed up and look nice for once instead of wearing our boring school clothes.

It didn't take Lily and me long, we didn't put on too much make up and I simply left my hair down while Lily pulled hers up into a messy bun.

"Aw, you look so pretty!" I exclaimed once Lily had finished getting ready. "James is a lucky guy." I winked as she blushed as red as her hair.

"You look nice too Lux," She said, nodding her approval at my finished look, "Classy." I smiled in thanks and we both exited the dorm to meet James and Sirius in the common room.

"Oh, you guys look so cute!" I squealed in a very girly way, causing James and Sirius to give me weird looks. I stopped and coughed to hide my obvious embarrassment at being unable to filter the things that come out of my mouth. "What I _meant_ was; you two look very handsome." I said, sounding much more dignified and slightly redeeming myself from my unusual outburst. James and Sirius laughed and Lily just rolled her eyes, though there was a smile on her face.

I stepped forward toward Sirius's outstretched arm and looped mine into his. He bent down until his mouth was by my ear and whispered, "You look very pretty."

I smiled up at him, blushing slightly and said, "Thank you."

We got down to the Great Hall to find it had been decorated so thoroughly it was almost unrecognizable. Everything was either pink, red or white and tiny gnomes dressed up like Cupid were running around throwing heart confetti at everyone they passed.

I looked up at Sirius with my mouth hanging open to find that he was wearing the same expression. We both burst out into laughter and stepped into the hall together.

Apparently the students weren't the only ones who enjoyed dressing up for all of the teachers had taken to wearing robes in pink, red or white. Dumbledore was wearing a long robe of neon pink with hearts that flashed between red and white. Sirius and I shared another laugh at this as we waved to the headmaster.

I danced with Sirius for a while and tried to watch Lily and James as close as possible. I had an awful feeling that James was going to do something moronic and screw up this incredible chance that Lily had given him, but it was hard to watch them with Sirius spinning me around all over the place. Eventually, after I had danced a fair amount of songs, I told Sirius I was going to get something to drink and sit down for a while. As I made my way through the thick crowd of people on the dance floor I noticed Remus sitting all alone at a table and started to make my way to him. As I drew closer I saw that a small group of girls was standing not too far away from him, giggling and throwing him glances every few seconds. I slowed down a bit to see what was going to happen.

Eventually one of the girls dispatched from the group and made her way over to Remus, who seemed blissfully unaware of the situation. The girl was quite pretty, she had long brown hair and was wearing a tight red dress and I guessed that she must have been in a higher grade because I didn't recognize her. She stopped once she was next to Remus and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. He seemed to come out of deep thought as he jerked a little and slowly looked up at her, confusion written all over his face. She said something to him that I couldn't quite make out, smiling genially the whole time. Then Remus started to talk, looking slightly embarrassed, and the more he said the more her smile faded. Finally Remus stopped talking and the girl nodded, her face red with embarrassment, before turning on her heel and making her way back to her friends, whose giggling subsided when they saw the look on their friends face.

I furrowed my brows in confusion as I started walking to Remus again, wondering why he had turned her down. He couldn't be having much fun just sitting here all alone and that girl was really pretty, why would he say no? I shook my head slightly before taking the seat next to Remus, announcing my presence.

"Hey Remus." I said, smiling slightly as I greeted him.

"Oh, hey Lux. Having fun?" He asked and it was painfully obvious that his smile was forced.

"I suppose." I replied, shrugging indifferently; I didn't want to make Remus feel bad. "What about you?"

"Yeah, I guess." He said, but there was no enthusiasm in his voice what-so-ever. We were silent for a few moments and I was just about to ask him why he didn't want to dance with the girl in the red dress when Lily stormed up to our table, looking thoroughly pissed off.

"Woah, Lily, what happened?" I asked, taking in her wild hair and red face; never a good sign for the temperamental red-head, especially when she's been around a certain black-haired boy.

"Ugh! That Potter! I can't believe I actually thought he could be decent for one night!" She exclaimed, flapping her arms around her as she spoke.

I frowned up at her, my fears confirmed, "What'd James do?" I asked, sounding somber. I _knew_ that idiot was going to do something wrong.

"He, he, he just _attacked_ me!" Lily nearly screamed as she flopped down into the chair across from me.

"Just take a deep breath Lily," Remus said, sounding soothing as he tried to calm her, "And tell us what happened."

"Okay," Lily said, nodding and inhaling a deep breath, "We were dancing, okay? I was actually having a decent time, which I really didn't expect. I'm not sure at all what I expected from him, I shouldn't have expected anything less I suppose!"

She was starting to work herself up again so I said, "Lily, calm down. Just explain to us what he did."

"Oh, right," She said, shaking her head and taking another breath before continuing, "So we were dancing and then a slow song came on so I didn't really have a choice but to get close to him and we danced like that for the whole song and he didn't try anything so I thought that was really nice. Well, after the song ended he just froze and kept holding me close to him and I asked him to let me go but he wouldn't and then he kissed me! I tried to push him off of me but he just grabbed my hair and wouldn't stop!" She was flailing her arms and her face had become red again with anger.

"Oh James," I said, rolling my eyes towards the ceiling, "You are so tactless."

"Am not!" Yelled a voice from behind me and I groaned as James came running up to the table. "Lily!" He exclaimed as he flung himself into the seat next to her and attempted to grab her hands.

"What do you want you pervert?!" Lily yelled, narrowing her eyes at him and folding her hands in her lap.

"Aw, Lily-flower, I didn't mean to upset you!" He said, sticking out his lower lip and widening his eyes in a gesture of innocence.

"Oh, really? Then why did you kiss me!" She exclaimed, face growing redder by the second.

"I thought you wanted me to!" He replied.

"Even after I tried to pry your lips off of mine?!"

"I thought you were just grasping a hold of me in passionate desire!" He cried, throwing his arms out for emphasis to his dramatic words. Lily scoffed and folded her arms as she threw him an icy glare. "Why don't you just admit that you liked it so we can get all of this silly banter out of the way."

"Liked it?! _Liked _it??" Lily shouted, throwing her arms into the air again in her frustration. The color of her face was starting to match her hair and I decided that I'd rather let her and James work this out on their own.

"Hey, you want to get out of here?" I leaned over and whispered to Remus. He looked over at me with amusement in his eyes as he nodded. We both discretely slid out of our chairs and blended ourselves into the surrounding crowd. I didn't want to lose him in the mass of people so I grabbed his hand and began pulling him through, looking for the exit of the Great Hall. We finally stumbled out of the crowd and into the entrance hall and I continued to lead him outside and down to the lake where I sat down and quickly took off my heels, which were starting to really hurt my feet.

"You look really nice tonight." Remus said softly, leaning back on his palms as he looked across the lake. I could just see the blush on his face from the light of the moon.

"Thanks Remus, you do too." I said, smiling at the side of his face.

"So… you and Sirius, huh?" Remus said after a few moments of silence.

I slowly turned my head to look at him, confusion plain on my face but he didn't notice since he was defiantly looking straight ahead at the lake. I cocked my head to the side and said, "We just came as friends Remus."

Remus opened his mouth once, like he was going to say something, then seemed to think better of it and closed his mouth again. I sighed and lied back in the grass to look at the stars. Remus spoke again after several more moments.

"Have you been working on your telepathy?" He asked as he laid on his side next to me, his head propped up by his hand.

"No, I haven't really had time." I said, moving my eyes from the stars to his face.

"Lux," He said, and I could tell he was about to reprimand me like a teacher would a student, "I really wish you would. You never know how good you could get if you never try."

I sighed and rolled on my side to copy his stance, leaving just inches separating us. "I know. It's just like doing homework; if I don't have someone around to encourage me and give me a specific time to do it it's likely that I'll never get it done."

"Hey!" He exclaimed suddenly and his face brightened as an idea came to him, "We could do that! It'd be like your study sessions with Lily, I'd give you a certain time and then we'd get together and work on it for a while."

How could I turn down that genuine enthusiasm? "That's a great idea Remus, as long as it won't cut into your own studying time." I said, inwardly cringing at the fact that I would now have to study for classes with Lily, work on becoming an Animagus with James _and _better my skills at telepathy with Remus. On the other hand I was legitimately happy at the fact that he cared enough about me to take time out of his own day to help me.

"Oh, it's no problem at all," he said, smiling genially at me, "Anything to help a friend."

I smiled back and tackled him in an unexpected hug. He landed with a slight _thump_ on his back and I kept myself attached to him, resting my head on his chest as he circled his arms around me.

"Thank you Remus." I whispered as I listened to the steady beat of his heart.

***

Over the next few weeks all of my days were completely filled with school, animagus's and Remus. Our sessions were actually my favorite of the three considering they were the least strenuous and Remus was a wonderful conversationalist. And conversation was pretty much all we did. I would sit with my hand on his arm and talk either out loud or in my head. Sometimes he would get a word or two but it was nothing substantial yet. When I got tired of futilely trying to send him messages I'd just start talking more and we'd eventually be pulled into a long conversation where neither of us seemed to notice that my hand was still resting on his arm.

Lily and James were becoming a major problem for me. Lily was absolutely refusing to be even in the same room as James since the dance and James was so depressed that he'd screwed up his only chance that he barely talked, which was surprisingly more annoying than him talking all the time, as was usual. Lily on her own was becoming too much for me to handle. She was moody and grumpy and I think she was starting to suspect something going on between me, James, Sirius and Peter, which she couldn't find out since it would give away Remus's secret and the whole point of having those lessons was to help Remus, not let more people in on the secret.

Animagus lessons quickly became my least favorite thing to do on my schedule. They were difficult and completely wore me out, more than once I had fallen asleep during one of my sessions with Remus because of a late night Animagus lesson, though I could tell that we were getting better. We had started with turning other things into animals, and we had all managed to turn a goblet into a rat so far, which was definite improvement.

As far as school went my grades were just fine, probably better than they had been in a long time actually. This was only because Lily worked me hard during the times I wasn't with Remus or James, Sirius and Peter.

Though all of these things kept me busy and studying to be an Animagus was actually really good since it made me greatly advanced in Transfiguration, now my best class, none of it helped the fact that I was now tired all of the time and had no social life outside of the five people I spent all of my time with. Parties were held nearly every Saturday in the common room and I hadn't been able to go to one since December. I guess that's the price you pay for good grades and good friends.

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	5. Of Dramatic Plans

There were only two months left before the end of third year. James, Sirius, Peter and I almost had our Animagus forms mastered. There were just a few things we needed to practice before we could unveil our secret to Remus but it was harder to make time to practice lately. Final exams were coming up fast and Lily was working me harder than ever in my studies and she could be stricter than McGonagall when she wanted to be.

My sessions with Remus had become sparse also but the times we could get together it was obvious that I had improved a lot since the beginning of the year. I could now sense his emotions without touching him. It was weird because I could actually distinguish his emotions from anyone else's now. It's like it has its own signature that makes it painfully obvious whose it is. I could also send him thoughts and mental pictures but we had to be touching for that.

It was a Wednesday night and I was sitting in the common room with James, trying to finish my Potions essay that was due the next week. This was proving most difficult though due to the sulking black-haired boy looming over me.

"Why don't you just try swallowing your pride and apologizing to Lily?" I finally snapped as I looked up from my parchment. James just shrugged and flopped down onto the couch. I had suggested this, among various alternatives, about a million times and I always got the same response.

"Well I guess you'll never know if it would work since you're not even willing to try!" I said, sounding a little harsher than I had intended to, but James was really starting to get on my nerves. It's surprising how you can grow to love someone who used to annoy the hell out of you.

It had been over a month since James and Lily's fight and his attitude wasn't improving in the slightest. In fact it was getting worse. His grades were suffering horribly and his status as "Quidditch God" was quickly going down the chute as well. Even Sirius was starting to get fed up with it and it took a lot to get Sirius riled up about something.

"I think we should tell Remus next full moon." James finally said, mainly to change the subject.

"You think so?" I asked, returning to work half-heartedly on my essay.

"Yeah, I think we have it down enough to handle one night." He said, voice strangely void of his usual enthusiasm.

I sighed at his apathetic demeanor and said, "Well if you think so then I trust you. Have you told Peter and Sirius?"

He nodded. "They think it's a good idea also."

"Well then it's settled." I said, refilling my quill in my inkwell, "How are we going to tell him?"

James shrugged and was silent for a moment as he thought. I was constantly surprised at how much more I could pick up from people, especially James. Short flashes of things he was contemplating shot across my mind until he finally settled on something. "We could sneak out-"

"And just appear to him in our transformed states." I completed his sentence and a smile almost came over his face as he nodded. "Sounds like a good idea to me. So when is the next full moon?"

"Saturday night." James replied.

"This Saturday? Wow… okay." I said, a little taken back at how soon it was but I was sure that we could pull it off. "We're going to have to work hard the next few days but I'm confident we can do it."

James nodded in agreement and we soon fell into a comfortable silence as I went back to fully concentrating on finishing my essay.

***

The next day, after lunch, I was walking through the hall with James and Sirius to Charms class when Lily and Severus passed by us. James sighed audibly as he stared at them and he soon caught the attention of Severus. He sneered evilly at him and flicked his want discreetly in his direction so Lily wouldn't notice. Before I knew it James had been joisted into the air by his ankle and was hanging upside down a good six feet off of the ground.

"I saw that Snivellus!" I shouted after his retreating figure. He looked like he was having a good laugh. "That's it!" I exclaimed at I conjured up a small mattress below James and then flicked the countercurse. James landed with a soft 'thump' on the soft mattress, completely unharmed.

"What's it?" Sirius asked as he glared after Severus.

"James being miserable!" I nearly shouted, "I'm fixing this whole mess with James and Lily if it's the last thing I do!" I said, turning to Sirius with my hands clenched into fists at my side.

I was silently asking for him to help me and he must have understood because he turned away from glaring down the hallway and said, "I'll help." I smirked wickedly at him and we both turned to help James to his feet.

***

"Sirius!" I yelled as I ran across the common room making sure I gained the attention of everyone there, especially Lily.

"What is it Lux?" Sirius asked, looking concerned.

"It's James!" I gasped as if I had run here from across the entire castle.

"What about him?" Sirius questioned, looking more frightened.

"He's, he's been hurt! He's up in the hospital wing right now with Madame Nelly!"

"What happened??"

"Well, we were out on the grounds when a few first years decided to go for a swim in the lake. One of them swam out too far and couldn't swim back to shore; he was splashing like mad trying to stay afloat! So I turned to James to tell him that he should go and try to find a teacher to help but James was already gone, running toward the water. He jumped in and brought the kid back to the shore but before he could get fully out of the water the giant squid grabbed him by his leg!" I was moving my hands animatedly and telling the story with such fervor it might have actually happened. A collective gasp came from all around me and I knew I had everyone hooked.

"What happened then??" Someone from the crowd yelled.

I looked around the room eyes wide before I continued. "Everyone had gathered around the shore by now and everyone was screaming. No one had any idea what to do since something like that has never happened before. The seconds ticked by and we all stood on the shore, feeling helpless and sure that his time had run out. He'd been under the water for so long that none of us could even remember when he'd been dragged under anymore. Finally, when all hope seemed lost, something broke the surface at breakneck speed and landed limp on the shore, right at my feet!"

"What was it?!" Several people yelled as I stalled in my story again.

"It was James! I quickly knelt beside him and checked his pulse. Thankfully his heart was still beating, but his pulse was faint. It was then that Professor McGonagall showed up and transported James to the hospital wing so I don't know how he's doing now but I do know one thing." I said theatrically as I halted my story for a third time. "After James had coughed up the water from his lungs he was whispering something ever so quietly."

"What was he saying?!" People yelled out, unable to take the suspense.

"He said…" I paused dramatically to let the suspense stretch to an almost breaking point, "Tell Lily Evans that I'm sorry."

Every eye in the common room turned to Lily as she covered her mouth to stifle a gasp. She stood there like that for several seconds before she finally lowered her hand and said, "I have to go." She bolted from the common room so fast that all I saw was a blur of red hair. Everyone else in the room took that as their cue to start talking again. The entire place broke out in noise as they all discussed what they'd just been told.

"Do you think it worked?" Sirius came up behind me and whispered into my ear.

I smiled and looked at the portrait hole Lily had darted out of. "If I know Lily at all she's on her way to the hospital wing to talk to James right now."

"I still don't understand why this all had to be so theatrical." Sirius said as he turned me around so he could look at me.

I rolled my eyes and explained myself for about the tenth time. "It had to be theatrical because it had to catch everyone's attention. It was a much better chance for Lily to accept James's apology if everyone knew of the conditions in which he apologized. It's harder for her to ignore it that way."

"And James had to almost drown because-" Sirius began but I cut him off.

"Because Lily almost drowned when she was a kid and I knew she could empathize with that easily. Oh and James was saving a first year because Lily thinks that they're vulnerable and she likes it when guys are sensitive towards them."

"So, to sum it all up, you're a genius for coming up with such a fool-proof plan." Sirius said, smirking down at me.

"I like to think so." I answered, sounding rather smug. It was a good plan. Especially because of all I went through to get McGonagall, Madame Nelly and a first year kid to go along with the story.

"How _did _you manage to get McGonagall to go along with this?" Sirius asked an interested look on his face.

"Let's just say that we weren't the only ones who missed James's pranks on the Slytherins." I said, barely containing a smile.

"Shall we venture up to the hospital wing and see how poor Jamsie is doing?" Sirius asked as he grabbed my hand and pulled me across the common room.

"I think that's an excellent idea."

When we reached the doors to the hospital wing we could hear sobs coming from inside. I raised a suspecting eyebrow at Sirius as he nearly laughed out loud after he peeked through the doors. He motioned for me to look inside and I was surprised I could contain my own laughter that bubbled quickly to the surface.

Lily was inside, sitting beside a seemingly unconscious James, bawling her eyes out. It would be an endearing sight if I didn't know that James was simply faking.

Our snickering caught the attention of Madame Nelly who caught my eye through the crack in the door and winked. I smiled back and grabbed Sirius, dragging him back to the common room to give Lily her privacy.

***

The next morning we were all down at breakfast, including a fully recovered James. I noticed that Lily seemed to be much more cordial after yesterday. Well, at least she wasn't spending all of breakfast glaring at James as she had been doing for the past month and a half. In fact Lily seemed kind of subdued and she had hardly said a word to me all morning.

About halfway through breakfast Will Frye, the first year that James allegedly saved from drowning, approached our table as I had told him to a couple of days ago when I organized this whole plan.

"Hi James." Will said smiling widely at James.

"Hey Will, how are you feeling?" James asked as Will came to sit next to him.

"I'm fine, thanks to you!" Will said blushing a bit and looking down at the table. Man, I couldn't have picked a better kid if I tried. I silently applauded myself until Will started talking again. "I just came over to ask how _you _were feeling actually. It is my fault you almost died."

James blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't worry about it kid, I'm fine!" James said, throwing an arm around Will and smiling widely to reassure him.

"What about that girl, Lily. Did you ever get things worked out with her?" Will asked his eyes wide and looking like the picture of innocence.

James's eyes darted quickly in Lily's direction before he lowered his voice and said, "No, uh, not yet." And hung his head dejectedly. These two should have their own after school special!

James and Will talked for a bit longer and I turned my attention to Lily to see what her reaction would be. Lily's eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open in shock. Her left hand was frozen in mid-air where she had been bringing a spoon-full of cereal to her mouth. I smirked to myself as I returned to my breakfast never taking my eyes off of the scene playing out around me.

Once Will left Lily shook herself out of her stupor and coughed a few times before speaking quietly to James.

"Could I talk to you for a minute?" She asked, motioning to the hallway. James nodded, eyes wide, and they both stood up from their bench and exited the Great Hall.

"I can't believe this went so perfectly!" I exclaimed, turning to beam at Sirius who looked equally as happy with how everything was going. "I have a feeling we aren't going to have to worry about those two for a while."

"Wait a minute..." Remus suddenly spoke up, "You two were behind this whole thing?"

"Yup!" Sirius declared, looking proud of him-self.

"Wow!" Peter exclaimed, starring at us both with admiring eyes, "You guys are brilliant!"

"Well, I wouldn't say brilliant." I said but smiled at the compliment in spite of myself.

"I would!" Sirius piped up and threw his arm around my shoulders, "We need to start a business so we can service other people with our brilliant skills… for a small fee of course."

Everyone laughed; though Remus's seemed a little forced, and then we gathered up our stuff to head off to first period.

James showed up just before first hour started and he seemed in a particularly better mood than he had been for a while. I could feel relief and joy rolling off of him. I caught Sirius's eye across the aisle and we shared a knowing smile, just before Remus prodded my attention back to Professor McGonagall, whose own mood seemed to pick up the moment she saw James come in smiling.

***

James, Sirius, Peter and I worked harder than ever at Animagus training that night leaving no room for studying or spending time with Remus. It was worth it though, knowing that we would soon be able to help ease the pain of his transformations.

We all now had a firm grasp on our Animagus forms and after that nights' training I was more confident than ever that we'd be able to pull off our first tryst ever. Our maiden voyages as Animagus's. I was beyond excited.

We got back to the common room around twelve and I skipped out on trying to do any kind of school work even though I knew Lily wouldn't approve. Who cared, I needed to be rested up. Tomorrow all of our hard work was going to be put to the test. Tomorrow we'd all experience a full moon like we never had before.


	6. Of Full Moons and Marauders

**A/N:** Whoa, I've been coming out with chapters pretty quick lately, huh?

This chapter's a bit longer than the last one. I was thinking about skipping ahead again in the next chapter or just doing the summer after third year. Not sure yet.

Anyways, I was re-reading my first few chapters for this story earlier and I realized that the grammer and stuff in them is pretty bad. I was just wondering if you guys thought I should re-do them cause I feel like I should. I wouldn't change any of the plot or anything, just fix them up a bit.

Well, enjoy!

* * *

It was Saturday night, the night of the full moon, and Remus had just left the common room to make his way to the Shrieking Shack. I looked over at James from across the room and set the book I was reading in my lap. I use the term 'reading' loosely. I was too anxious to actually focus on it and had been simply holding it in front of my face for the past hour. James gave me a discreet nod before getting up quietly and exiting the common room unnoticed.

A few minutes later Sirius came to stand next to my chair. "Hey Lux. You want to walk with me to Professor McGonagall's office? I have a paper I need to give her that was due last week."

"Hm… I don't know Sirius," I said, turning my head to look out at the darkening sky, "It's almost past curfew. Maybe you should just wait and give it to her in class tomorrow."

"Come on! It'll take ten minutes at the most." Sirius whined giving me his best puppy dog face.

"Alright fine," I rolled my eyes, set my book on the table next to my chair and stood up, "Let's go."

We found James waiting for us outside of the portrait hole and went to stand next to him while we waited for Peter.

"Well that went well." I said, turning to look up at Sirius.

"I'm telling you, we need to start a business." Sirius replied.

I chuckled and then turned to talk to James. "What's Peter's excuse for leaving again?" I asked.

"He's telling everyone he's going to get some treacle tart down in the kitchens." James replied, his eyes never leaving the portrait hole.

I smiled. "Well that's not out of the ordinary at all. No one is going to suspect a thing."

James smiled back and then we fell into an anxious silence as we waited for the portrait hole to open. A few minutes went by until it finally did and Peter came scrambling out looking scared and excited.

"Alright, are we all ready then?" James asked and after we all nodded he pulled his invisibility cloak out of an inner pocket of his robes and threw it around us. I thought for sure we were going to get caught by Filch but we managed to evade all possible contact with anyone by taking the various secret passageways throughout the castle. It took a bit longer to get to the grounds that way but it was much safer. Once we made it far enough away from the castle James looked all around to make sure no one was nearby before sweeping the cloak off of us and tucking it back into his pocket.

Once we got to the Weeping Willow we all stopped and looked to James. "Do you remember what root Remus said freezes the tree?" I asked.

"Uh… no." James confessed. "But it shouldn't be too hard to figure it out. Peter, go ahead and transform now and try them all until you find it."

Peter nodded and brought a horribly shaking hand up to press his wand to his forehead. A few seconds later Peter had transformed into a rat and was scurrying across the ground prodding every root he came to. Finally he tapped one and the tree suddenly froze. After just a moments' hesitation we all ran forward and slid down into the hole at the base of the tree.

The walk to the Shrieking Shack was long and did nothing to settle my nerves. It was dark and cramped and teeming with insects. It also didn't help that I was so much more aware of every else's nerves either. It was like my own tension had been tripled in intensity and it made me a bit queasy to say the least.

"I can't believe Remus has to walk down here every month. It's so creepy." I said, wrapping my arms around myself in a protective way.

"Agreed." Sirius said, brushing a spider web away from his face.

We finally came to the end of the tunnel after about fifteen minutes. We all looked around for a few seconds before James pointed out that there was a small hatch on the ceiling of the cave.

"Okay, we'll get up there and change in the house. If I remember right Remus said that he transforms in one of the upper rooms so he shouldn't be around." James said as he pushed open the hatch and crawled into the house above. Sirius lifted Peter up since he was still in his rat form and then pulled him self up. I tried to reach the hatch on my own but I was too short so Sirius had to pull me in.

Once we were all inside James looked at us. "Everyone ready?" He asked in a shaky voice. We all nodded again and James transformed into his stag animagus. Sirius went next, transforming into the shaggy black dog and I went last, transforming into a snow white wolf.

We all took a second to look at each other and bask in our achievement before turning our heads to the ceiling where we could now smell another animal with our heightened senses. We quickly dashed up the small flight of creaky steps and came bounding into a completely destroyed room. There were claw marks etched deep into the wood and only splinters left of what used to be furniture. There was a large gray mass huddled in the left corner of the room, whining pathetically.

I was the first to approach the animal and I stuck my nose out to nuzzle its shoulder in a comforting way. It immediately shot up, its yellow eyes barring into my blue ones as it growled menacingly.

_'Remus? It's me, Lux.'_

_'…Lux? That seems… familiar.'_ The large creatures' face contorted into a look of confusion before it started growling again. It pulled its lips back into a snarl, barring its teeth. '_What do you want?'_

'_We came to play with you!'_ Sirius barked suddenly as he came bounding up next to me. James and Peter weren't too far behind.

_'Play with me?'_ The werewolf still looked confused and it seemed that confusion easily converted to anger for him. '_I don't want to play with anyone.'_ He snarled again and took a step closer as if to show he meant business.

_'Sure you do!'_ Sirius then leapt forward and pinned the creature to the ground by its shoulder and began slobbering all over its face. The werewolf growled and shoved the dog off of him.

The dog seemed unperturbed by this and simply ran over to the door wagging his tail and barked, _'Come with us!'_ before bounding down the stairs, not even waiting to see if anyone followed.

I made a motion with my head for the werewolf to follow us before racing after Sirius; James and Peter right behind me.

The werewolf seemed to be too curious with us to just let us go so he followed us out of the house and onto the grounds surrounding the shack. There was a small patch of woods by the house and we quickly ran to it.

We walked a little ways before finding a clearing and stopping there. After a few minutes James, Sirius and I began wrestling and play-fighting while Peter climbed onto a nearby tree and watched us from there. Remus seemed reluctant and kept a short distance away, hiding behind a tree and watching us with interest.

After a bit I approached the wolf again and motioned for him to join us. He cast me a some what distrusting glance before stepping timidly out from behind his tree and coming closer to us. He still didn't join but he made a move every once in a while like he wanted to jump in.

After a while longer I come to him yet again and motioned for him to join us. He did, but seemed cautious about the whole thing, like he didn't quite trust us. Every time one of us would jump on him he over-reacted a little and threw us with more force than necessary, thinking that we were trying to actually attack him. After some time he kind of got used to the concept though and accepted the fact that we didn't seem to want to harm him.

The time flew and before I knew it the first signs of daylight were peeking over the horizon. I figured we should get Remus back to the shack, thinking he wouldn't want to change in the woods. We walked him back to the dilapidated old building and stopped at the hatch to say our goodbyes. Remus sat on his haunches and threw his head back letting a loud howl loose. Sirius and I did the same and James folded his legs under his body in an imitation of a bow. Before we turned to leap back into the small tunnel Remus stepped forward and lowered his face to me, nuzzling my neck. I gave a small bark and nipped his ear before following the others under ground.

Once we were about halfway through the tunnel we all stopped and transformed back to normal.

"Wow, I'm exhausted." I said my eyes droopy and body stooped as I shuffled my feet along the ground.

"Yeah, me too." James said, yawning loudly.

We continued on for a bit in silence until I thought I was going to collapse from exhaustion. I unconsciously leaned my body against Sirius who was walking next to me and closed my eyes in contentment when I felt my body being shifted and my legs leave the ground. I sighed happily and snuggled closer to the warmth that had engulfed me before letting sleep come over me.

***

"Lux, for gods' sake wake up!" I heard someone yell and I rolled over, trying to drown out the unwelcome sound.

"For goodness sake!" The person said exasperatedly and a few seconds later I was drenched in ice-cold water.

"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed and quickly jumped up on the bed, hopping up and down to try and shake the water off. I turned my head rapidly; ready to seriously injure whoever had poured cold water all over me. I should have known who it was. "LILY!" I shrieked, launching myself off of my bed and almost landing on the frightened red-head. She moved just before I could though and I came face-to-face with the floor.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, sitting up and rubbing my throbbing nose. I glanced up quickly to see Lily standing over me and I glared up at her. "What's the big idea Lily? You know I hate it when you do that!"

"Well I know, I just thought it was about time for you to get your lazy butt out of bed. It's three in the afternoon Lux!" Lily said sternly as she placed her hands on her hips, daring me to challenge her.

"Whoa, it's three in the afternoon? That's the latest I've ever slept in!" I exclaimed, eyes wide. I started to wonder what would make me sleep in so late until flashes of last night came back to me and I remembered how tired I had been after our escapade. I almost wanted to climb back into bed and sleep until tomorrow just thinking about it. "Do you know where James, Peter and Sirius are?" I asked as I quickly picked myself off of the floor and searched for something clean to wear.

"Yeah they're in the common room. They encouraged me to come wake you up actually. They said that you guys have something you need to take care of and they didn't want to do it without you." Lily explained. I could tell she was hoping that I'd tell her what we had to 'take care of' but I ignored this and pulled on a shirt and pants before rushing out of the dorm and almost running right into the three of them at the end of the staircase.

"Hey guys!" I said excitedly. "How long have you all been awake? I was exhausted after last night! I probably would have slept until classes tomorrow if Lily hadn't woken me."

"We woke up about two hours ago and have been waiting for you, miss sleeping beauty, to wake up since then." Sirius said and threw his arm around me as we walked across the common room.

"Yeah, we wanted to go talk to Remus and see if he remembered anything about last night but we didn't want to go without you!" Peter explained.

"Oh, well thanks for waiting for me guys." I said as we all piled out of the portrait hole and started toward the hospital wing. We talked about last night the whole way there and we decided that everything had gone really well considering we were trying to befriend a werewolf.

We got to the hospital wing and all gathered around Remus's bed. He seemed surprised to see us all there and I noticed he didn't look nearly as bad as he usually did after a full moon. I couldn't see any claw marks on his arms or face and he looked pretty well-rested.

"Remus! You're looking especially well this afternoon!" I said cheerfully as I hopped up onto his cot.

"Yeah, it's the strangest thing; I don't feel nearly as bad as I usually do. And not a mark on me!" He exclaimed as he held up his arms for proof.

"So you have no idea why you feel so good today?" I asked, watching him intently for his reaction.

"Well…" He paused for a moment and I saw something flash in his eyes before he continued again, "No, not at all!"

"Are you sure Remus?" James asked, leaning in close to his friend.

"Um, yes? Unless you guys know something you're not telling me." He said, growing suspicious from our behavior.

"Welllll," I said, drawing out the word, "It depends on what you remember!" I gave him a secretive smile, "And don't try to hold out on me. You know I could find out if I really wanted to." I held my hand over his head, not quite touching it, to remind him of my powers.

"I know," He sighed, "You're right. It's just that I kept getting strange flashes of things from last night. It's strange because I usually never remember what happens during a full moon but it's like these memories are begging to be remembered."

"What do you see?" I asked anxiously

"Here." He said and held out his hand to me. I intertwined mine with his and closed my eyes and took a deep breath, willing his memories to come to me. Soon flashes of last night were playing across my mind. I saw myself as a giant white wolf, motioning for Remus to join us in our play-fighting. I saw Sirius pounce on Remus and I saw us all howling good-bye to Remus before we left. I came back to reality with a jerk as Remus pulled his hand away from me and gave him a huge smile.

"Oh I'm so glad you remember! It would have been really hard to keep this going if you couldn't even remember what was going on." I said bouncing up and down on the bed.

"Does anyone mind actually explaining now?" Remus asked, looking amused.

"Well," James started, taking his usual place as the leader, "After we found out about your condition I did some research on lycanthropy and came across something rather interesting…"

"Which was?" Remus asked, raising an eyebrow in interest.

"Which was that when a werewolf is around other animals that can handle its strength the werewolf is less likely to injure itself. It makes the transformation easier for the lycanthrope in many ways. So I made a proposition to my loyal posse here," James nodded at us all as we rolled our eyes, "To become animagus's and be with you every full moon."

"But… James… becoming an Animagus is extremely difficult, not to mention illegal if you don't register which I'm assuming you didn't." Remus whispered urgently.

I shrugged and said quietly, "It's worth it to help you Remus."

Remus froze and I felt an amazing emotion fill him. I didn't quite have a name for it but I guess the closest thing you could call it was… happiness. Pure, blissful happiness. Remus's eyes began to water but none spilled over.

"You guys…" Remus paused and opened and closed his mouth a couple of times like he was looking for the right words but couldn't seem to find them. Finally he just shook his head and said, "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"It's no problem man." Sirius said, patting his knee. "It's actually really fun."

"Yeah!" I said enthusiastically and nodded in agreement.

"Okay," Remus said sitting up and crossing his arms as he looked around at us, "Let me guess who was who."

"Sirius… the dog?"

"But of course." Sirius said smiling.

"James, the stag." James nodded.

"Peter, the mouse."

"It's a rat!" Peter exclaimed.

"Sorry, rat." Remus corrected rolling his eyes.

"And that just leaves the wolf, Lux." Remus said, eyes landing on me. I smiled and nodded.

Madam Nelly came then to check on Remus. She gave him a potion to ease the aches that a transformation causes and then looked down at him fondly.

"How do you feel dear?" She asked politely as she stood beside his bed.

"Great Madam Nelly. Do you think I could leave now?" Remus asked.

"I think that would be fine. Just be sure not to do anything too strenuous." She shook a finger at him as he climbed out of the cot.

"Don't worry, I'll take it easy the rest of the day." Remus said smiling reassuringly at her.

"Okay dear, I'll see you next month!" She called after him as we all headed out. Remus waved over his shoulder at her and stepped into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

We all decided to kill some time out on the grounds until dinner and made our way outside. We came to a stop by the lake and kicked our shoes off so we could stick our feet in the cool water. Lily joined us eventually, making cautious conversation with James.

After dinner we sat in the common room and talked. Well I wasn't doing much talking since Lily had plopped a huge stack of next week's homework in front of me. So I was mainly just listening and trying to concentrate on a particularly difficult Charms essay. Lily went to bed after a while and I stayed up with the guys figuring I got enough sleep during the day to stay up for a while.

I ended up getting so absorbed in my assignment though that I lost track of time. When James called my attention to them I looked up at the clock to see it was nearly one in the morning.

"What do you think Lux?" James asked looking at me expectantly.

"Think about what?" I asked having not heard what he'd said before.

"I've been thinking for a while that we should document all of the things we know about the school somehow." James explained.

"Like a book?" I asked.

"Maybe…" James said though he didn't sound too enthralled with the idea.

"Well if we're going to put down stuff about the school why not make a map?" Remus suggested.

"A map?" James asked, face lightly up at the idea, "That's brilliant!"

"Hey yeah!" Sirius said excitedly, "We could make a map of all the secret passages we know about!"

"I know a spell that could put every person in the castle on the map, so we could know where everyone is all the time." Remus offered looking excited also.

"Yeah! And I know a spell that makes something invisible unless you use a certain phrase on it. That way only we could look at it." I added.

""The Marauders' Map.'" James said dramatically as he slid his hands in front of his face like he was imagining the words in front of him.

"Marauders' Map, huh?" I said, thinking the name over, "It has definite potential."

"I thought so." James said smugly.

"We shouldn't use our actual names on the map so just in case someone does find out how to read it they won't know whose it is." Peter piped up.

"Yeah, good idea Peter." James said, "They should have something to do with our Animagus forms since no one knows about that."

"Let's see…" I said, sucking on the end of my quill as I thought. "James you're a stag so... how about Prongs?"

"Yeah, that's good!" James exclaimed. "And what about Padfoot for Sirius?" Sirius nodded in approval.

"How about Fang for Remus?" Peter suggested. James, Sirius and I looked to Remus and burst out laughing.

"I think Fang is a little too dangerous of a name for our little Remus. Even as a werewolf he's not that threatening." Sirius said after he stopped laughing. Remus chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"Well then what would you suggest?" Peter asked, looking just a little perturbed that we'd laughed at his idea.

"Hmm…" Sirius said as he contemplated Remus. "How about Moony?"

Remus cocked his head to the side as he thought about it for a second. "Yeah," He said smiling, "I like it. Now just Peter and Lux are left."

"Wormtail." I said suddenly.

"That's perfect!" Sirius said, laughing. Peter cracked a smile too and nodded.

"Okay, so what will it be for our only member of the female gender?" James questioned, cocking his head to the side in thought.

"How about Snow White?" Remus said.

"Snow White?" I said.

"Yeah, it's from a muggle cartoon." Sirius said and I raised an eyebrow at him, curious as to how he'd know that. "Remus makes us watch them every time we go to his house." Sirius explained.

I smiled at Remus and said, "It's great!"

"Why do I have to be so brilliant?" James asked no one in particular. "First the Animagus idea and now this. Statues should be erected to commemorate my genius."

"Just one problem with that." I said, "There's not an artist in the world that'd be willing to sculpt a head as big as yours. It'd take years."

* * *

**A/N: **Don't forget to tell me what you think about re-doing the first few chapters again!

Thanks!


	7. Of A Mother's Greatest Fear

**A/N: **Sorry it's been a little bit longer wait than usual but I've also been working on re-editing the first couple of chapters. Hopefully I'll be done with that soon!

So hope you enjoy!

Don't forget to review, anything is appreciated!

Thanks :]

* * *

It was currently our last day at Hogwarts until the summer and Remus, Sirius, James, Peter, Lily and I were all lying under our favorite oak tree on the grounds. We finished our final exams the day before and we planned on spending all of today outside enjoying the warm summer weather. I was completely at ease and starting to fall asleep when James suddenly sat up with an announcement, breaking everyone's peace.

"Oh!" He exclaimed loud enough to rouse Sirius from his nap, "I almost forgot! My mom said that her and my dad bought a cabin out on a lake and we're going to spend most of the summer there. She was wondering if you all would like to come with."

"Whoa, really?!" I asked excitedly as I sat up straighter to get a better look at James, my sleepiness suddenly forgotten.

"Yeah!" James confirmed nodding his head vigorously, "It should be really fun. My mom said she already talked to your mom, Lux, and she was fine with it if you want to go."

"Of course I want to go!" I exclaimed throwing my hands into the air in excitement.

"What about you all?" James asked looking around at everyone else.

"Yeah, sounds great." Sirius said sleepily as he rubbed his eyes, "I'll just have to sneak away from my parents. If I asked they'd never say yes." James nodded and looked to Remus.

"Well… I'd have to ask my mom but I don't think she'll have a problem with it." Remus said nodding to himself as he thought it over.

"Yeah same." Lily piped up.

"I'll most likely be able to go." Peter said looking excited.

"All right! This is going to be awesome!" James said smiling brilliantly at everyone.

"When do you think we'll leave?" I asked.

"Two or three weeks into the summer." James replied. "I'll owl you all with the exact date when I find out."

"Hey, speaking of leaving, does anybody know when the train leaves for Kings Cross today?" Remus asked suddenly.

"No but I imagine it'd be soon. It usually leaves around noon." Lily said, "We should head up and pack the last of our things." Everyone nodded in agreement and we all reluctantly got up to leave the grounds.

***

"Lux why do you always wait so long to pack everything?!" Lily cried as she helped me throw my various belongings that were still strewn about the room into my open trunk. The way we were packing it would be near impossible to get it closed but we didn't really have the luxury of taking our time with it at the moment.

I hated packing to leave Hogwarts. I just reminded me that someday I was going to pack up and never return again so I always left everything completely unpacked until the very last minute. This always irritated Lily who started packing her things two weeks before the final exams.

I grinned sheepishly at Lily from across the room where I was looking for more of my things. She went on like this every year since our first year, red faced, hair frazzled, and mumbling about how irresponsible I was to do something like this. Every year she made a big production, like we weren't going to have enough time to finish but, somehow, we always did. This year we even got done a little early.

"Let's go down to the Great Hall and have some lunch, all that packing made me hungry!" I exclaimed once we had finished and managed, with much difficulty, to get my trunk closed. Lily rolled her eyes as she followed after me. The guys were already down there, stuffing their faces as usual. I took a seat next to Sirius and Lily sat across form me, next to Peter. They were so busy concentrating on their food that it took them a whole minute to notice that we were there.

"Oh, 'ey 'ux. Eh 'rain es 'eaving afer lunk." Sirius said though a mouthful of food. A big glob of something landed right on my cheek.

"Ugh, sorry." I said disgustedly as I pushed Sirius away from me with one hand and wiped my face with the other, "I don't speak idiot."

"I think what he was trying to say was, 'The train leaves after lunch.'" Remus translated looking amused.

While the guys sat in silence as they shoveled food into their mouths like they'd never had a decent meal in their lives, Lily and I talked about final exams. I knew I had done well in Transfiguration and Charms but I was a little concerned about my Potions exam. Potions had become something of little importance to me over the past year since I had so many other things that had nothing to do with the subject going on. It was a shame really because I enjoyed the class; I just didn't have enough time to devote to it. It had been hard to balance all of my classes properly this year actually but at least I had worked a lot on Transfiguration and all my other classes just came a little easier to me. You just have to put a lot more attention into Potions than anything else but I promised myself that next year I'd work harder at it.

Soon people began to clear out of the Great Hall and make their way back onto the grounds to catch a horseless carriage to Hogsmead Station. Once the guys were finished with their mountains of food we followed the crowd outside and found an empty carriage to file into.

On the ride to the station we began to reminisce about things that had happened during the year. We even, cautiously, breached the subject of Valentines Day. I was a little afraid that it would upset Lily but she just laughed it off. I almost wished that Lily wasn't there so we could have talked about our full moon nights and becoming animagus's. We had only been able to go out once more after the first time but now that we were probably going to be spending the summer together we'd have a few more.

I suddenly wondered if James had told his parents about Remus. He probably hadn't since James isn't the kind of person to tell someone's secrets. It would be fun to keep it a secret from his parents because then we'd have to sneak out and sneaking is always more fun. It was ideal that we were going to a cabin because we would undoubtedly be surrounded by woods and that would make it easier to keep away from other people.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when the carriage came to a halt and everyone began to stand up. We managed to find one empty compartment all the way in the back of the train once boarding. We quickly hauled our luggage onto the racks, tired of tugging them around for so long, and flopped down onto the benches.

The ride to King's Cross seemed shorter than usual and much quieter. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence though, it was a peaceful one. I was starting to doze off, for the second time that day, when the train began to slow as it entered the station.

"Are we there already?" I asked sleepily as I sat up a little to look out the window.

"I guess so." James said looking out from over my head.

"Somebody wake Sirius." Lily said sounding only slightly bossy as she stood on her tip-toes to get her luggage down. She almost had it when James reached over her head and got it down for her. She turned red and gave a huff before grabbing her suit case from him and exiting the compartment. James stared after her for a second before coming back to reality and helping me with my luggage since I was also too short to reach.

Once we made it onto the platform we said our goodbyes and split up in search of our parents. James decided to stay with me as I scanned the various people crowded onto the platform, trying to find my mother. After a few seconds I noticed, from the corner of my eye, that James seemed to be fidgeting nervously so I turned to him and gave him a questioning look.

"Well, uh." James stuttered, "I was just wondering if I could come with to your house so I can just floo home."

I continued to stare at him for a few seconds before I spoke. "Where are you parents, James?" I asked quietly.

James averted looking into my eyes as he answered. "Well they said they were going to be too busy to pick me up today so they're probably at the Ministry right now."

I didn't say anything more, just grabbed James's arm and led him through the thick crowd of people to find my mom and Casimir. When I touched him, though, I could feel what he was feeling. He was upset, more so than he was letting on. I didn't comment on this, though it made me so angry I could barely see straight for a moment. Poor James. But I knew the last thing he would want is my pity.

After a couple of minutes we finally found my mom and Casimir standing near the exit of the platform. Mom was fawning over Casimir who was very red in the face and kept checking to make sure no one he knew was around. Once he spotted us coming towards him he quickly distracted her with our presence by pointing and waving in our direction. Needless to say, it worked. Once my mom saw us she immediately let go of Casimir and practically ran into us, enveloping us both in a hug.

"Oh Lux!" She exclaimed joyfully once she'd transferred her hold from both of us to just my shoulders.

"Hey mom." I smiled brightly back relishing in the mental and physical feel of her. Her mental feel always seemed to calm me.

"And James!" She said suddenly after taking her eyes off of me and turning to James. "It's so nice to see you sweetie!" She quickly stepped over to him to give him a hug and while her back was turned away from me and James's face was turned toward me I made a motion for him to tell her what he wanted.

"Oh, uh, I was wondering if it was okay if I came home with you guys? Only so I could floo to my house once I got there." James asked when my mom finally let go of him.

"Well of course dear!" She exclaimed, "You can give me the real facts on what Lux has been up to at school." She winked at him, trying to act pleased about it but I could tell she was agitated that James's parents had again failed to be there for their only child.

After a few more minutes of my mother exclaiming about how James and Casimir seemed much too thin, and how I seem prettier each time she sees me, we finally made our way out to the car. Mom, to Casimir's great pleasure, made me sit in the back seat since James was with us. I didn't care that much but Casimir tried to make it into a big deal.

"So Helen told me that you guys are going up to their cabin for the summer?" Mom said as she pulled out of the King's Cross parking lot.

"Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun." I said smiling at James, "I hope that everyone else can come too."

"Yeah especially-" But James suddenly stopped, his face staining a bright pink as he tried to cover up his mistake with a coughing fit.

"Especially who James?" Casimir asked after James had finished coughing, a mischievous glint in his eye.

I knew James mean he 'especially' wanted Lily to come but I couldn't let Casimir know that, he'd torture the poor guy the rest of the way home and anytime he saw James and Lily together at school.

"Especially Sirius because he would make the trip ten times more fun!!" I exclaimed with enough enthusiasm to draw the attention away from James.

"Sirius Black?" Casimir asked turning in his seat so he could look at me. "You sure spend a lot of time around him, don't you?"

His voice sounded almost accusing so I rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah and Lily and James and Remus and Peter also. They're my best friends."

"Well, I-" Casimir started but I interrupted him.

"You don't see me insinuating anything is going on between you and Molly even though I rarely see you with anyone but her, do you?" I glared at him as he continued to stare at me with his mouth slightly open like he wanted to say something.

"Yeah, whatever." He finally said as he rolled his eyes and turned back to the front. James mouthed a silent 'thank you' to me and I just smiled back. If you would have told me three years ago that I'd be doing nice things for James Potter without even thinking about it I would have told you to check yourself into St. Mungo's. Now I couldn't imagine handling that situation any other way. He sure had a way of wriggling himself into your good side, no matter how much he annoyed you.

The car ride back to the house took a little over the hour and wasn't lacking in conversation. Mom had tons of questions about the school year and we were all very eager to tell her everything. I tried to ask her what she had done over the school year but she only seemed interested in hearing about what we had done and waved off all of my questions.

When we got to the house the sun was starting to set and the sky was painted a brilliant blood-red. James decided he'd help Casimir and me unload our luggage and bring it into the house before he left.

"Well I think that's the last of it." Casimir said as he set my owl, Calla, on the kitchen table. She hooted in greeting as James stuck his finger through a bar to pet her beak.

"Would you like to stay for dinner James?" Mom asked as she entered the kitchen.

"Well I really should be-" James started as he straightened himself up from the cage but mom interrupted him.

"Now, now, I can't send you home with an empty stomach, what would your parents think?" She said as she began to take out some pots for cooking.

James opened his mouth again like he wanted to argue but before he could Casimir put a hand on his shoulder and said, "There's no arguing with her, trust me."

James smiled in amusement at Casimir and closed his mouth, deciding to accept his invitation to dinner.

"Hey, let's have a game of Quidditch before dinner!" I suggested to them both.

James and Casimir both nodded their heads eagerly and we all ran out the back door. I grabbed three brooms from the shed and followed the guys onto our large, open field in our backyard.

It wasn't much of a Quidditch game. It was basically just James and Casimir teaming up to keep the ball away from me as much possible but it was fun. After a while it started to get too hard to see so we landed on the ground and started back inside.

"I never knew you were so bad at Quidditch, Lux!" James exclaimed as we walked slowly across the yard.

"Hey! We weren't even playing a real game, how could you know how good I am?" I said defiantly as I glared at James. I knew he was right though, I had never really gotten the hang of a broomstick, despite Casimir's frequent attempts to help me.

James just laughed as we stepped into the kitchen and the smell of food suddenly over-whelmed my senses. I had forgotten how much I loved my mother's home-cooked meals and suddenly I was dying to eat one.

"Wow mom that smells delicious!" Casimir said as he came to stand next to her at the stove and tried to peek in one of the pots. Apparently I wasn't the only one who missed it.

"Hands off mister!" She scolded slapping his hand away. "It's just about ready, why don't you three go set the table?"

Once we finished setting the table mom brought over the pot that had been simmering on the stove and placed it at the center of the table.

"What'd you make mom?" I asked leaning over the table to peer into the pot.

"It's stew." She replied as she pulled out a chair and sat down. Casimir, James and I did the same.

Between the four of us we ate all of the stew. Well I should say between James and Casimir they ate all of the stew. Once everyone was finished mom and I stood up and gathered the dishes to wash them. James and Casimir stayed sitting at the table and by the time we were finished they had fallen asleep.

"James!" I nearly yelled and he jerked awake violently, nearly falling off his chair. I laughed as I helped him steady himself and then said, "Are you ready to floo home?"

"Wha-? Oh, yeah." He said rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and yawning loudly.

"Come on then." I said motioning for him to follow me into the living room. Once we were there James grabbed a handful of powder out of the pot next to the fire place and stepped inside.

"Well, I'll see you in about two weeks, Lux!" He said, "I'll owl you sometime to let you know when you should come over."

I nodded and waved goodbye as he said 'Potter Estate' before he dropped the floo powder and emerald flames enveloped him. I watched the fireplace until the last flame had licked the brick walls and then walked back into the kitchen where mom was putting away the last of the dishes.

"So, you and James seem to be getting along very well, huh?" She said, back turned towards me, as she stood on her tip-toes to reach the highest shelf in the cupboard.

"Yeah I've told you, he doesn't seem to bother me near as much as he used to." I said shrugging as I took a seat next to the still sleeping Casimir.

"You know, Casimir owled me a while back and told me that you and some guy named Remus were spending a lot of time together." She said as she came to sit at the table too.

"Oh yeah, that was when Remus was helping me with my telepathy." I explained. Suddenly I felt a pang of fear jab through my mother's emotions. I turned my head slightly to examine her better and caught something strange in her eyes.

"So… have you gotten any better?" She questioned almost warily, like she didn't want to hear the answer.

"Yeah, actually. I can read all of my friends pretty easily now, especially if I touch them." I said slowly, trying to scrutinize her facial expressions the whole time. Another, stronger, shiver of fear ran through her this time and an image of my father passed through my mind. What was making her think of my dad?

"Mom is everything okay?" I asked sounding worried.

"Wha- oh yes, of course." She answered quickly plastering on one of the fakest smiles I had ever seen on my mother's face.

"You know you can't hide things from me." I said matter-of-factly as I crossed my arms over my chest, "So why don't you just tell me? Start with why you were reminded of dad while I was talking."

She swallowed hard and looked me straight in the eyes. She looked terrified, something I had never seen in my mother in my life. After taking a deep breath she finally spoke. "Okay. I'll tell you. I wasn't planning on telling you until, well I wasn't planning on _ever_ telling you but if things keep going like this…" She trailed off as she unconsciously started biting on her thumb in a nervous gesture. She looked pointedly at Casimir, grabbed me by the arm and took off down the hallway, coming to a stop only after we were in her room with the door shut behind us.

"Sit down." She said motioning toward the bed. I did and she sat next to me. She turned her head down to look at me and then decided better of it and took to staring at the wall in front of her instead.

"About a year after you were born there was an uprising." She began, voice shaking slightly. "It was short-lived and not very public; most people you talk to probably wouldn't even know it happened. A man who called himself 'Lord Voldemort' was torturing people's families, mainly to try and gain supporters through fear. He went mostly after witches or wizards with extraordinary or unusual talents. He must have learned, somehow, about your father-"

"My father?" I asked suddenly.

"Yes, your father. He had the same gift as you only much, much stronger." She said nodding slowly to herself. My eyes widened in shock for a moment but then I reasoned to myself that I had to have gotten my talent from somewhere. "Anyways, Voldemort came after him to recruit him for his personal army but your father didn't want anything to do with him. He knew what Voldemort was after. He wanted to purge the world of anything non-magical, namely muggles and mud-bloods. Your dad refused his offer, which only served to enrage Voldemort and he ended up… killing him." Tears were streaming down her face now and she had a far-away look in her eyes. I gently rubbed her back to try and soothe her while memories of my mother's anguish echoed all around me and I cried softly too.

"So I'm just…" She started, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, "I'm just scared that something might happen to you if the wrong people find out about your telepathy." She said as she finally looked at me. Her eyes were so full of fear for me that I nearly broke down.

"Nobody knows but my friend's and I know that I can trust them. I'll make sure that they don't tell anyone else. Everything's going to be okay." I promised her as I continued to rub her back. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her head in my shoulder as she sobbed in pain and fear.


End file.
